Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Drug-driver eight times the limit
A drug-driver who was more than eight-times the legal limit was found unconscious behind his car with the engine still running.
Cameron Munro had taken so much ketamine that he passed out behind the wheel as his car came to rest on a residential fence.
The 22-year-old offshore worker could not be roused by the concerned homeowner and only regained consciousness moments before police and ambulance crews came to his aid.
Man jailed for attacking woman in street
A violent Aberdeen criminal has been jailed after he carried out a brutal street attack on his former partner and headbutted a nurse.
Mohammed Amir appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted following his former partner as she walked to the pub before punching her more than five times in the face.
In a separate incident, the 41-year-old headbutted a registered nurse after getting into an argument at a pharmacy.
Sex offender preyed on girl, 14
A sex offender who carried out a predatory attack on an underage girl while she was drifting in and out of consciousness after drinking has been jailed for two years.
Thomas Watts, 37, assaulted the child at an address in Fort William after she became intoxicated through alcohol.
A judge told Watts at the High Court in Edinburgh that he had taken advantage of a vulnerable child to commit the sexual assault on her.
Lockdown party guests in court
Three men and two women have been fined in court over a lockdown-breaking Covid house party in Aberdeen.
The group were prosecuted in court in the Scottish equivalent of the legislation used to hand former Prime Minister Boris Johnston a fixed penalty notice earlier this year.
Police shut down the illegal get-together on Dyce’s Sluie Drive on April 3 2021, where as many as 12 people had been partying despite pandemic restrictions banning socialising.
Teen had sex with girl then threatened to throw her from window
A warrant has been granted for a Manchester man who filmed a vulnerable underage girl carrying out a sex act on him.
Adam Godfrey, 19, threatened to throw the teenager from a window after they met in an abandoned building in Aberdeen for sex.
Godfrey then video-recorded the 15-year-old carrying out the intimate act on his phone.
Woman who threatened neighbours ‘turning life around’
A woman who told her neighbours she would “kill them all” has avoided prison after “turning things around”.
Eve Crawford hurled alarming threats to neighbours as she walked down Wingate Place in Aberdeen late at night, the city’s sheriff court was told.
When police officers responded to a report of her aggressive behaviour, the 23-year-old repeatedly bit, kicked, punched and spat at them.
She also used racial and homophobic slurs against the constables.
Farmer banned from road following crash
A farmer has been banned from driving after crashing his car the morning after a night out.
Alistair Naismith was involved in a collision on the A937 near Laurencekirk, but when police arrived they could smell drink on him.
The 22-year-old, who was also unsteady on his feet, then failed a roadside breathalyser but was unable to complete the formal procedure at the station for “medical reasons”.
Soldiers facing custody for homophobic attack
Two soldiers have been warned they could be locked up for carrying out a homophobic attack in Inverness.
Ian Mulroy and Thomas Howells targeted a man heading home from a night out December last year.
Howells pushed the man’s chips in his face and called him homophobic slurs before Mulroy knocked him to the ground and kicked him.
Unpaid work for offshore boss caught with indecent images
The boss of a north-east offshore firm has avoided a prison sentence after being found with thousands of child sex abuse images.
Police Scotland found more than 2,600 images of children at Baxter ‘Harry’ Anderson’s home in Aberdeenshire.
Officers also found more than 20 videos that contained child sex abuse material.
Trucker locked up for killing OAP in crash
A lorry driver who killed an elderly Highland motorist and badly injured his wife in a catastrophic head-on collision was today jailed for four years.
Garry Tierney drove onto the wrong side of the road before crashing into the car driven by Matthew Donnell, who was accompanied by his wife Edith.
Tierney’s defence counsel David Nicolson told the High Court in Edinburgh: “He accepts that he drove his vehicle into the oncoming carriageway and did so for a number of seconds. Even to this present day he does not know how that came to pass.
999 call handler begged man to stop brutal assault
A brutal attack at a house party was captured on a desperate 999 call made by the victim, a court has heard.
The man managed to phone the emergency services while Ian Moir rained blows down on his head, leaving him permanently disfigured.
During the disturbing 32-minute phonecall, a 999 call handler begged Moir to stop the attack – which he only did when his screaming victim fell unconscious.
Carer took and shared photos of nursing home residents
A care home worker took photographs of elderly residents naked and using the toilet and sent them to her friend, a court has heard.
Jackie Hauley’s crime, which took place at Garioch Nursing Home in Inverurie, was described as a “very significant breach of trust” and involved two female pensioners.
In one photo an elderly woman is seen sitting naked on the floor and in another a different resident is using a commode.
Renee MacRae killer to appeal sentence
Double murderer Bill MacDowell will appeal against his conviction, it has emerged.
The 81-year-old was found guilty of the murdering Renee and Andrew MacRae at the High Court in Inverness last week.
Lord Armstrong handed MacDowell a life sentence for the murders, with a minimum term of 30 years.
But his lawyer, Murray Macara, has confirmed to the Press and Journal that he intends to appeal.
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Clubber attacked man on Union Street
An Aberdeen clubber who attacked a random man after a night out continued to kick and punch his victim even as he lay defenceless on the ground.
Albert Damean assaulted the stranger moments after the man had intervened to try and split up an earlier disturbance outside Atik nightclub on Bridge Street.
Damean, 22, followed the good Samaritan and brutally attacked him on Union Street, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Drink-driver was almost seven times the limit
A drink-driver who was confronted by members of the public when she pulled over was almost SEVEN times the limit.
Sarah Cowie, or Hawcutt, was seen “veering” across the A947 by alarmed motorists in the middle of the afternoon.
They followed the 42-year-old until she stopped and then approached and challenged her.
Drug dealer ‘terrified’ of those he worked for
A drug dealer caught with thousands of pounds of cocaine after he was jumped by men with a machete was “terrified” of the gang he worked for.
Jack Watt’s £3,000 stash was discovered after police were called following the incident at the Morrisons supermarket on King Street in Aberdeen.
When they searched the car to check if the weapon had been left behind they instead discovered 26.93g of cocaine, worth up to £3,300.
Mum banned from road after ‘ill-judged’ overtake
A mum has been banned from the road after narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with an HGV during a dangerous A90 overtake.
Chelsie Spencer forced an HGV driver to slam on his brakes when she carried out the frightening manoeuvre, pulling onto the wrong side of the A90 near Ellon.
The 24-year-old was “lucky” she managed to merge back into the right side of the road just in time as the lorry driver desperately tried to slow down.
BMX bandit pulled knife on women
A man demanded money from two women while holding a knife, before riding off on a BMX.
Jack Ogilvy told one woman that she owed him £15 from “years ago” and the other that she owed him £20.
His confused victims insisted they owed him nothing before calling the police – prompting Ogilvy to flee on his bike.
Jail for ‘family men’ caught with £900,000 of cocaine
An alleged middle manager in an organised crime gang who was caught in the Highlands with almost £900,000 of cocaine in his car boot has been jailed.
Garry Jordan, 35, was driving near Aviemore when his car was intercepted by police who found approximately three kilos of the Class A drug.
An analysis of messages from an encrypted Encrochat phone placed him “in a logistics role at a mid-level in the hierarchy of the organised crime group”, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
Scammer conned golfing pal out of £2,000
A serial fraudster has been ordered to pay compensation after he tricked one of his golfing buddies into paying more than £2,000 for tools he never supplied.
Christopher Forbes, 30, told his pal he could get him a “good deal” on a selection of tools due to being a former sales representative in the sector.
But Forbes kept the money and never supplied any items.
Victim of attack says young son still ‘living in fear’
An Aberdeen taxi driver who had to give up work after a vicious attack by his neighbour over a parking space says his family will continue to “live in fear”.
Jamie Stroud, 30, left his victim with a bleed on the brain after the sustained assault outside his home and in front of the man’s terrified nine-year-old son.
Stroud’s defence agent told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that the attack, on the city’s Larch Road, happened after his client “snapped”.
Man grabbed police officer between the legs
A man grabbed a police officer between the legs and called her colleague homophobic slurs.
Colin Reid seemed to be under the influence of a substance when officers visited his Fochabers home and, when he refused to put down a glass bottle, a struggle ensued.
He spat in one officer’s face and called him a “p**f” and a “p*****r”, then grabbed another between the legs and held on.
‘I’ll bite your faces off’
A woman told police she would bite their “face off” after they attended a potential gas leak at her home.
Michelle Watson, 32, called the fire brigade as she feared gas was leaking into her home on Aberdeen’s Richmond Walk and could cause an accident.
However, when fire crews arrived they found her gas cooker wasn’t installed and the boiler wasn’t even working.
As Watson was arrested on another matter she became aggressive, issuing threats and racial abuse.
Man phoned MSP and threatened to petrol bomb police
A man phoned the office of Scotland’s justice secretary and said he was thinking about petrol-bombing police officers.
Gordon Regis-Hvidsten rang up Keith Brown MSP’s office in Alloa because he was “dissatisfied” with the police.
But the situation quickly escalated when the 43-year-old began talking about going to a police station and throwing petrol bombs at officers.
Remorseless rapist jailed
A remorseless former serviceman who raped a woman on Christmas Day has been told how his actions have caused her “significant” and “continuing” harm.
Kevin Gilchrist, 41, was given a seven-year jail term by judge Lord Richardson following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh today.
Gilchrist, of Aberdeen, preyed on the female, who cannot be named for legal reasons, between June 2018 and July 2020 at locations in the city.
He was convicted following a trial earlier this year at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Late-night unwanted visitor
A man who terrified Aberdeen residents by trying to force his way into their homes late at night has been warned he is on his “last chance”.
Brandon Booth, 22, attempted to gain entry to a home on Provost Rust Drive during the early hours of the morning where he shouted and tried to push past the homeowner.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the man pleaded with Booth to leave, telling him he had young children in the house.
Businessman guilty of tax evasion
An Aberdeen businessman has been warned he faces prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion totalling more than £350,000.
Raymond Esslemont, 70, was too sick to appear in person at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today but admitted four charges of conning the authorities between 2006 and 2019.
The pensioner admitted failing to pay nearly £262,000 in income tax payments and more than £88,000 in national insurance contributions.
HGV driver dozed off
An HGV driver who “dozed off” at the wheel and left the road has admitted careless driving.
Roy Dunn, 61, was spotted veering off of the A95 in his Iveco lorry on August 10 last year, before emerging from the cab with a bleeding head.
When questioned about what had happened by a road user he told them he “must have temporarily dozed off”.
Mum took baby son shoplifting
A struggling mum hit with money woes took her baby son on a shoplifting spree, which saw her steal almost £600 worth of goods in a matter of hours.
Erica Spink, known as Buchan, made off with food, toys, homeware items and electricals worth £579.52 during visits to Asda and B&M in Elgin.
The cash-strapped 43-year-old’s haul from Springfield Retail Park included everything from curtain poles and coffee pods to gaming headsets and motor oil.
Gambler’s threats to bookie
An Aberdeen man has been jailed for threatening to cut the throats of a bookie – and her children – when she refused to take a bet on a horse.
Shaun Groves, 40, made the sinister threats when the woman said she couldn’t place a bet because the race had already started.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the bookmaker was forced to push the panic button as Groves’ threats escalated and he told her: “You won’t recognise your son by the time I’m finished with him.”
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