Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Man wanted to ‘destroy’ his lawyer
An Aberdeen man who threatened to “destroy” his solicitor and bombarded him with dozens of abusive phone calls has blamed his bad behaviour on strong painkillers.
Jonathan Murray shouted, swore and ranted about legal aid paperwork during a series of furious calls to Collins and Co, an Edinburgh firm of solicitors.
In 27 voicemails on Simon Collins’ phone, Murray warned that he “knew where he lives” and said he would “destroy” him and those around him.
The 54-year-old also ranted at a female assistant at the law firm and branded her a “useless f****** b****” in a series of calls on August 5 2019.
Banned driver struck policewoman
A disqualified driver who was caught behind the wheel without a valid licence struck a policewoman with his car door as he tried to escape the officer.
Liam King, 22, also attempted to swerve past a line of cars in Aberdeen city centre as he sped away from police officers on September 18 this year.
Fiscal depute Ryan Diamond told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that concerns about King’s driving on Crown Street were reported to police at 2.07am.
But when they approached his green Ford car and opened the driver’s door he refused to remove the keys from the ignition and get out, as requested.
Angry boyfriend in throat-slitting, fire-raising threat
An angry boyfriend threatened to slit his partner’s throat and set their home on fire after smashing a window with a rock, during a day-long disturbance that caused £1,000 worth of damage.
But Dennis Adams was spared jail at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where his girlfriend of four years repeatedly called out the words “thank you” from the public gallery.
The 39-year-old was first witnessed shouting and screaming at the woman when she opened their front door to a painter and decorator at 11.40am on September 9 this year.
Fiscal depute Ryan Diamond said: “The decorator entered and observed him to be agitated and acting in an aggressive manner”.
Moray sports coach spared jail in US
A Moray sports coach who was facing up to 20 years in prison for obstructing a criminal investigation into an American youth football organisation has been spared jail.
Gavin MacPhee – originally from Rothes in Moray – was a senior figure at Global Premier Soccer (GPS), a player development academy based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The 37-year-old deleted an email account after a federal investigation was launched into a colleague at the company in 2019.
The probe concerned allegations of poor working conditions and immigration paperwork irregularities for GPS coaches coming from abroad.
Street attackers sent to prison
Three men who were filmed targeting three other people in a vicious street attack outside an Inverness bar have been jailed.
Stuart Drummond, Karl Hoxby and Joshua McCarthy were all caught on camera attacking their victims outside Sobar on Castle Street on August 29 2020.
Highland Councillor Duncan MacPherson recorded the vicious assaults on his mobile phone and handed the video footage to police.
After viewing video evidence of the trio’s violence, Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told the men: “You all looked like you were enjoying yourselves”.
Brothers’ knifepoint abduction
Two brothers abducted a pair of men who were forced to get into their car as they were robbed at knifepoint, a court has been told.
Joseph, 46, and Harry Merchant, 42, targeted the men, who were walking along the Spital in Aberdeen, and threatened to stab the pair if they didn’t get into the car.
The victims were forced to hand over their belongings – including phones, wallets, watches and a jacket – before they were dropped off nearby.
But the bumbling brothers were soon caught after one of them left their DNA on a wallet they handed back to a victim, and a stolen Apple watch was tracked to an address on Urquhart Road.
Sex attacker preyed on sleeping woman
A sexual predator who attacked a vulnerable woman while she was sleeping has been jailed after leaving his victim “shocked and disgusted”.
Gary Ellinsworth, 54, had offered to pick up the 22-year-old and drive her to a house in Inverness after she drank on a night out.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the woman fell asleep on a couch after arriving at the address.
Advocate depute Mark Mohammed said that, when the victim was intoxicated and sleeping, Ellinsworth performed an oral sex act on her.
Drink-driving Aberdeen lawyer
An Aberdeen lawyer has been caught drink-driving for a second time, after deciding to drive home from a church confirmation ceremony in Perthshire.
Linda Beedie, a director and partner at First Employment Law in Aberdeen, had planned to stay at a friend’s house in Perthshire following the religious ceremony, at which she had “a few glasses of wine”.
But when the pair had an argument and fell out, the 61-year-old decided to hop into her car and drive back home to Marykirk, Aberdeenshire.
However, two separate witnesses contacted the police with concerns that the lawyer was not fit to drive, and officers traced her to a Co-op car park near her home.
Christmas night out ruined
A Christmas night out with friends ended in a street attack that left a man swollen and scarred for life, a court has heard.
Rory Conway attacked a fellow reveller on Aberdeen’s Belmont Street as the man enjoyed a festive night out in the city centre.
The 22-year-old offshore worker repeatedly punched his victim on the side of the head from behind, before fleeing the scene on December 18 last year.
Conway’s victim was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he received eight stitches to a laceration to his upper lip.
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Terrified taxi driver attacked
A terrified taxi driver was forced to set off his panic alarm to call for help when his drunk passenger launched into a violent attack on him.
Joel Booth repeatedly swung at the driver from inside his taxi and even continued the assault when his victim fled the vehicle.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that 22-year-old Booth was picked up by the taxi that he had ordered for Riverside Drive in Aberdeen, at 7am on February 27 this year.
When the taxi driver arrived, he saw Booth arguing with another man before jumping into the car.
Drunk man abused and spat at police
A drunk man who had fallen over in the street made homophobic comments and spat at police officers who helped him to his feet.
Officers had already removed Cornelius Stevenson, 35, from a property, when they saw he had fallen on Grant Street in Inverness.
But when they went to his aid, Stevenson called one officer a p***, and while he was receiving treatment at the police station, he spat in the officers’ faces.
Stevenson appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to plead guilty to a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour with an aggravation relating to sexual orientation, as well as two charges of assault.
Royal Marine crashed into lamp-post
A drink-driving Royal Marine who was almost four times the alcohol limit crashed into a lamp-post as he tried to drive 800 metres between the pub and his parents’ home.
Nathan Kennedy, who is stationed in Arbroath, had returned to Aberdeenshire to visit friends and family and was socialising at the local pub in Newmachar before the crash.
Despite the bar being less than a kilometre away from his parents’ house where he was staying, the 21-year-old chose to drive the “easily walkable” short distance.
But before he could reach his parents’ place, Kennedy crashed the car into a lamp-post on the A947 Oldmeldrum Road and was found by police.
New north police chief from London
A senior Metropolitan Police officer is leaving his London beat to replace the Highlands and Islands police chief, the Press and Journal can reveal.
Chief Superintendent Rob Shepherd will take over from Ch Supt Conrad Trickett, who is moving into a national role helping to shape policing in a digital world.
The newcomer, who lived and went to school in Kinloss, Moray more than 40 years ago, has described the “big decision” to return to Scotland as “very easy” to make.
And Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) for the north, Emma Bond welcomed the “wealth of diverse experience” that she said he will bring to the region.
Charge after car falls onto rocks
A woman has been charged after a Land Rover fell onto rocks and landed on its roof in Gardenstown.
The incident happened in the coastal Aberdeenshire village at around 11.45pm on Tuesday November 22, with the car falling onto rocks on the beach.
A damaged Dacia was also seen parked on the roadway nearby.
Lifeboats from Fraserburgh and Macduff were sent to the scene, as were coastguard teams from the two towns.
Rapist gave £10 note to victim
A serial sex attacker who raped three women in Aberdeen and elsewhere threw a £10 note at one of his victims after assaulting her.
Daniel Malone, 32, is facing a lengthy jail sentence after he was convicted of carrying out the sex attacks on sleeping women at addresses in Aberdeen and Dysart, in Fife.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Malone had left one victim in a “terrible” state after she landed on the floor outside the front door, following an altercation at a flat in Aberdeen.
A friend of the woman, who was in contact with her through the Facetime app, said Malone had told the victim to “get out his f****** face”.
Jailed man’s ‘Covid’ coughs at police
A sweary drunk who told police officers that he was infected with Coronavirus and coughed at them during a Covid-19 lockdown has been jailed for eight months.
Lawrence Mutasa had been up all night drinking and turned up at Burnett Road police station in Inverness, during the January 2021 lockdown.
The 42-year-old banged on the front door of the police office and was arrested after shouting and swearing.
He told officers he’d tested positive for Covid and claimed that he was told to self-isolate by the NHS.
‘Hostage situation’ accused in court
A man has appeared in court charged in connection with an alleged “hostage situation” in Stonehaven, where armed police discharged a firearm and taser.
Martynas Kulvinskas appeared in private at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, facing three charges of abduction and assault, abduction and assault to injury, and having an article with a blade or point in a public place.
The 31-year-old, of no fixed abode, made no plea, was committed for further examination and remanded in custody on Wednesday November 23.
Armed police raced to the scene on Hunter Place, around 12.40pm on Monday, following reports of a disturbance.
Dog ban for poachers
A pair of poachers have been banned from keeping dogs after being caught hare coursing in Aberdeenshire and elsewhere.
Alexander Stewart, 35, of Aberdeen and Jackie Stewart, 42, from Fife, pled guilty at Forfar Sheriff Court to wildlife offences carried out in 2020.
The court previously heard that in the early morning of Sunday November 8 2020, a local farmer spotted a Subaru belonging to Alexander Stewart in the Redwell Farm and the Balindarg area of Angus, near Forfar.
They called police because the same car had been used in earlier hare coursing incidents.
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Moray mums and man jailed for attempted murder
Two young mothers and a male accomplice have been jailed for a total of more than 20 years for the brutal attempted murder of a Moray man in his own home.
Rhys Baker, Suzanne Kelly and Caitlin Wells entered the victim’s address and subjected him to a violent onslaught that continued after he passed out.
Andrew McLaren, 27, was hospitalised after he suffered facial fractures, multiple lacerations and internal bleeding after the attempted murder.
During the attack on April 3 last year, at Hepworth Lane in Forres, he was repeatedly punched on the head, resulting in him falling to the floor.
Bar brawler struck man with toilet
A woman struck a man’s head with part of a toilet during a bar brawl, landing her bleeding victim in the hospital – a court has heard.
Pamela Rattray had been fighting with a woman in the toilets at Lauders Bar, Inverness, when her opponent’s male partner barged into the ladies’ room to defend her.
The 41-year-old then grabbed part of the toilet cistern and hit the man’s head, leaving him with two cuts, one of which required hospital treatment.
Rattray previously admitted charges of threatening or abusive behaviour and assault to injury at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Snapchat dealer sold pills to girls
A drug dealer used Snapchat to sell pills to young teenagers who were later found “staggering about” and taken to the hospital.
Tristan Church supplied strips of diazepam tablets to two 16-year-old girls in Buckie, on June 15 last year.
They’d seen his advert for controlled drugs on the social networking app but the pair became so unwell that they required medical treatment.
Church, 19, was caught with 135 blue tablets in his pockets during a police search the following day, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Boxer tried to fight driver whose car he mistook for taxi
A belligerent boxer has been jailed after mistaking a car for a taxi and threatening to fight the owners who told him it wasn’t.
Robert Mullen tried to get into the Peugeot Premier, a make of car commonly used as a taxi, on Scotstown Road in Bridge of Don.
But when the “alarmed” owners explained to him that their vehicle was not a taxi, Mullen became irate and challenged them to a fight, shouting at one of them: “Come on, big man. Let’s go”.
The 25-year-old, who unleashed a torrent of foul-mouthed and homophobic abuse, also spat on one of the witnesses.
Meat cleaver threat to neighbour
A man from Moray waved a meat cleaver at his “extremely large” neighbour and told him, “Look at the size of you – of course I’m going to use it”.
Children watched on as William Wylie pulled the knife from behind his back, during an incident outside Wylie’s council house on Bain Road in Elgin.
The 43-year-old had taken umbrage with the way he believed his neighbour had spoken to him, so he ran inside to grab the 15-inch blade, on May 2 this year.
Fiscal depute Karen Poke told Elgin Sheriff Court that Wylie had mistakenly believed a blunt shout of “give us the scooter back” had been directed at him from the couple living nearby.
Drink-driver teen reported by friends
A “foolhardy” teenager who was more than twice the legal alcohol limit was reported to the police by his friends after he ignored their pleas not to drink-drive.
Lewis Douglas drank three bottles of beer while he was parked with friends in the Spey Bay car park, near Fochabers.
The 19-year-old ignored warnings from his concerned companions not to get behind the wheel of his blue Alfa Romeo, just after 8pm on October 28 this year.
He then made an illegal 14-mile journey to the Tesco Extra in Elgin, where police caught up with the offender.
Bravery award for police officer
Constable Katy Mackay has won a top police bravery award after restraining a violent man who had attacked her colleague.
The Inverness-based probationary officer faced a dangerous situation after a suspect headbutted her partner, knocking him unconscious.
She immediately leaped into action and was able to restrain the man, who was larger than her, and handcuffed him on the ground.
The two officers had responded to concerns by a member of the public after a taxi driver was assaulted in September last year.
Teacher denies sexual assault charges
Two former pupils of a top Aberdeen private school have told a court they were allegedly embraced inappropriately by their music teacher over a number of years.
Peter Parfitt is accused of sexually assaulting the pair while the former director of music worked at St Margaret’s School for Girls – charges he denies.
The 56-year-old, who joined the Albyn Place school in 2007, is alleged to have committed the offences on dates between 2012 and 2021.
Giving evidence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, his alleged victims spoke of receiving multiple private hugs when alone together.
The trial, before Sheriff Eric Brown, will continue in February next year.
Woman tried to set car on fire
An Elgin woman was caught trying to set a car on fire by lighting a cigarette packet and attempting to shove it into the fuel tank in an act of revenge.
Emma McKerron had just been refused entry to a male acquaintance’s home and then she “scuffled” with a woman in the doorway.
A neighbour near the address in Kingmills, Elgin, then witnessed the 35-year-old targetting the woman’s car.
The alarmed resident watched as McKerron used a lighter to ignite the paper packet and pushed it into a Ford Mondeo’s fuel cap.
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