Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Woman threatened to beat stroke victim with walking stick
A woman called a stroke victim a spastic then threatened to beat him up with his own walking stick.
Rosemary Fitzgerald, known as McCrady, was formerly in a relationship with the man’s partner’s son when she told him she would “kick f*** out of him” with his own walking stick.
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen said the messages were sent to the man, registered as disabled, on November 17 2021 at 7.20am from an address at Watt Avenue in Buckie.
Her relationship with the man’s relative had come to an end four months before.
Stalker fitted tracker to ex’s car
A jealous stalker hacked his ex’s Facebook page, fitted a tracking device to her car, superglued a birthday card to the windscreen and left a vibrator on the roof.
David Groves claimed to have rekindled his relationship with the woman but ignored repeated requests to leave her alone.
The 40-year-old hacked into her Facebook account and blocked another man, tracked her vehicle to his house and left an unwanted sexual “present” on top of the car.
Groves’ victim became suspicious as he would call her and ask where she was going whenever she got into her car.
Drink-driver downed whole bottle of whisky
A drink-driver who was almost seven times the alcohol limit downed an entire bottle of whisky during a journey from Glasgow to Moray.
Richard Thomson was pulled over by the police in Elgin, where an empty bottle of Bell’s Whisky was discovered on the passenger side of his now-seized BMW.
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen told Elgin Sheriff Court that officers had received a tip-off that a vehicle being driven on the A95 might be at the hands of an intoxicated driver.
During the 53-year-old’s long-distance trip, he had earlier stopped to buy a 30cl bottle that he drank on his way north on January 12 this year.
‘Shaken baby’ abuser jailed
A Peterhead man has been jailed after inflicting “extremely severe” injuries to a toddler who suffered serious head trauma.
Robert Wilson, 27, was convicted of severely wounding and wilfully neglecting the young boy.
He was left with dozens of injuries and bruising that was consistent with those of a “shaken baby”.
The alarm was raised by medical experts who had examined the child and found 51 separate injuries.
Brutal attack left glass shard sticking out of man’s head
A man was left with a shard of glass sticking out of his head after masked intruders brutally attacked him with a pint glass in his own home.
Robson Curry, 25, and Grant MacFarlane, 27, assaulted the resident as he tucked into a Chinese takeaway.
The pair then helped themselves to two TVs and a mobile phone as their victim lay bleeding on the floor.
He eventually managed to get help at a nearby shop, where staff found him covered in blood with a “large chunk of glass” sticking out the back of his head.
Mental health nurse still suffers attack flashbacks
A traumatised mental health nurse who feared a patient would kill him still suffers flashbacks to the horrific attack, a court has heard.
Ian Fraser throttled the New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital worker until the man was unconscious, and went on to kick his victim’s head.
The 39-year-old had earlier been admitted into the Affric Ward for assessment at the Inverness healthcare facility on April 15 2019.
A trial at Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Fraser grabbed the staff nurse from behind in a head-lock and pulled him backward off his chair as his grip tightened.
Robber attacked man after prison release
A violent robber who attacked and stole from a vulnerable man just two days after being released from prison has been locked up again.
Charles Skinner repeatedly punched and kicked his victim before fleeing, but he was later found sleeping on a nearby stairwell with the stolen goods.
The 44-year-old, who stole the man’s wallet containing £50 and his mobile telephone, had been given early release from a previous jail term on November 18 last year.
But only two days later, he targeted a resident at the Lord Hays Court assisted living complex in St Ninan’s Place, Aberdeen.
Mum was unaware she was living with rapist
An Aberdeenshire mum who didn’t know she was living with a convicted rapist has said police should have done more to protect her and the woman’s children.
Mother-of-five Rachel Whyte, 34, was only told by police of Allan Thompson’s criminal past after the rapist from Tyneside pulled a knife on her.
During a three-hour ordeal, she feared that the 32-year-old might kill her.
Ms Whyte, who dated Thompson and lived with him in Aboyne from December 2021, was oblivious to his rape conviction and that he had been added to the sex offenders register for life.
Trio in court following alleged attempted murder knife attack
Three young men have appeared in court charged in connection with an alleged attempted murder involving a knife in Aberdeen.
The trio – aged 18, 19 and 20 – are accused of wounding a man during a late-night city centre attack.
Police descended on Gaelic Lane, near Belmont Street in Aberdeen, in the early hours of Sunday morning, after reports of a serious assault.
A 40-year-old man was rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with serious injuries and it’s understood that the incident had involved a bladed weapon.
Brenda Page murder trial: Cause of death was ‘inhalation of blood’
The trial of an 82-year-old man accused of murdering his former scientist wife at a flat in Aberdeen more than four decades ago has begun.
Christopher Harrisson has denied committing the murder of Brenda Page, 32, at the property in the city’s Allan Street on July 14 in 1978.
He is alleged to have repeatedly struck her on the head and body with a blunt implement or implements and otherwise caused blunt force injuries to her head and body.
Harrisson, of Aberdeen, also faces further charges of assault, breach of the peace and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
Dealer caught with heroin haul at mum’s birthday bash
A prolific drug dealer was caught with bags of heroin in his mother’s kitchen after police unexpectedly turned up at his mum’s birthday party.
Shaun Cowie, or Argo, was linked to a quantity of the Class A drug worth more than £7,000 on the streets which was found at an address in Aberdeen.
The unemployed 29-year-old was snared after his DNA was found on a bag of drugs that were discovered during a birthday bash at his mother’s home on Manor Walk.
Advocate depute David Dickson told the High Court in Edinburgh: “The accused and others had attended at her address to celebrate her birthday.
Teen denies student halls murder bid
A teenager is to stand trial charged with a murder bid at Aberdeen halls of residence.
Robert Hastie is accused of attacking Dean McKessick at Hillhead Student Village in Don Street, Aberdeen, on September 24 2021.
Prosecutors claim the 19-year-old struck him on the body with a knife or similar item.
The attempted murder charge states this was to Mr McKessick’s severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life.
Dying paedophile spared jail
A terminally-ill paedophile with just months left to live has avoided jail despite the sheriff telling him that he deserves to be locked up.
Former NHS psychiatric nurse Duncan Trueland was facing at least 12 months in prison and would have died from bladder and lung cancer before he was freed.
But a sheriff has reluctantly spared the 66-year-old from a custodial sentence because the prison’s “basic” healthcare and unreliable hospital transport arrangements would have limited his access to medical treatment.
Sheriff Ian Wallace, who deliberated and repeatedly sought updates from prison bosses over how Trueland could be accommodated in jail, told him: “You deserve to go to prison”.
Brenda Page told family she was ‘afraid’ to return to Aberdeen a week before her murder, court hears
Brenda Page told her family she was “afraid” to return home to Aberdeen a week before her brutal murder, a court has heard.
The 32-year-old genetic scientist’s 88-year-old sister Rita Ling told a jury Dr Page had told her she was scared of her ex-husband Dr Christopher ‘Kit’ Harrisson, who she worried would still be “pestering her” when she returned from a family visit to Ipswich.
Mrs Ling told the High Court in Aberdeen that Dr Page said Harrisson, who denies killing Brenda, could be “nice or nasty” and that living with him was “unpredictable” and “like walking on eggshells”.
Giving evidence on the first day of the murder trial, she also claimed that Dr Page believed Harrisson was stalking her.
Drug dealer stored £30,000 of cannabis and cash in flat
A drug dealer who was caught storing more than £30,000 of cannabis and cash in his second Aberdeen flat has avoided jail.
Tomasz Peczko, 30, volunteered the keys to a property that contained nearly £25,000 worth of drugs, when police told him they planned to search it.
Following the drugs raid at Elmback Terrace in Aberdeen, officers then searched Peczko’s vehicle and found a baton and some more cannabis.
A total of £30,330 of cannabis and cash was found during the searches, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
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‘Rock bottom’ robber jailed
A woman “sunk to rock bottom” when she threatened pensioners with violence and stole money from them, her own lawyer has said.
Marianne Downie barged into her elderly victims’ homes in Fraserburgh and made terrifying threats of violence against them before stealing their cash.
The 28-year-old sighed and shook her head in the dock as shocking details of her crime spree were read out at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Downie’s defence agent claimed that his client was “in a particularly dark place” when she preyed on vulnerable people, two of whom were aged in their 80s.
Paranoid man chased teens with knife
A man chased teenagers with a knife after hallucinations wrongly convinced him that an armed mob was trying to get into his mum’s home.
Paranoid James McCourt banged on his mother’s door to warn her that people armed with blades were trying to climb through her window.
The 25-year-old vowed to defend his mother from the imaginary group and flung a vase through a top-floor window of her Aberdeen home.
He then ran outside, armed with a kitchen knife, and chased after a group of young teens.
Speeding dad jailed after killing son
A speeding dad who drove at 137mph and killed his teenage son in a horrific car crash on a Highland road has been jailed for six years.
Craig Melville, 41, lost control of his Audi RS4 after speeding away from police who had tried to pull over his vehicle.
His only child Craig junior, 16, died after the vehicle struck a wall and split in two.
A 15-year-old girl, who was a passenger, suffered life-changing injuries following the fatal collision on the B9176 near Alness on March 27 2021.
Man accused of stabbing murder bid
A man has appeared in court accused of attempting to murder his partner or ex-partner by stabbing her in a house in Dingwall on Monday.
Kyle Drummond-Allan, from Inverness, also faced two charges of assaulting police officers, resisting arrest and threatening police and his partner or ex-partner with violence.
The 24-year-old was represented at Inverness Sheriff Court by solicitor John MacColl during the private appearance and did not enter a plea to the allegations.
Drummond-Allan was committed for further examination and remanded in custody by Sheriff Mark Stewart KC.
Hen party mum ‘accepts she went too far’
A mum who landed on the sex offenders register after a hen party card game of dares went wrong has admitted that she “went too far”.
Angela Cumming, 60, thrust her hand into the boxer shorts of a 22-year-old stranger when she was dared to “put an ice cube down the front of the nearest man’s trousers”.
The mother-of-four, who works as a carer, has since told social workers that she is “mortified” by her behaviour and “accepts she went too far”.
Giving evidence during a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month, Cumming’s victim described how he was “shocked, shaken and violated” at the city’s College Bar.
Friend of accused tells Brenda Page murder trial that man said he was going to ‘kill her’ the night before
A friend of the man accused of murdering Brenda Page has told a jury that he called her the night before she died and told her he was “going to kill her”.
Dr Christopher Harrisson, 82, also known as ‘Kit’, denies repeatedly striking his ex-wife’s head and body with a blunt implement or implements at her Aberdeen flat in 1978.
On the second day of the trial, former head teacher Elsa Christie told the High Court in Aberdeen that Harrisson called her at her home in Luxembourg.
The 75-year-old told the court that her friend at the time said Dr Page, 32, had “stolen” his scientific research and that he was going to kill her.
Violent racist called stranger a ‘f****** foreigner
A violent racist who hurled vile abuse at a stranger and repeatedly struck him on the street can barely remember the attack, a court has heard.
Ryan Gray singled out the man, who had been out for a Saturday night pint on Belmont Street in Aberdeen, and called him a “f****** foreigner” and a “dirty P***”.
The 27-year-old repeatedly struck his victim’s head and body on Holburn Street, at around 11.30pm on July 9 last year.
Gray’s defence solicitor told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that her client’s recollection of events was “somewhat confused”.
Army veteran choked pregnant partner
An Army veteran who previously completed a charity bike ride from Aberdeen to Arbroath has been found guilty of attacking his pregnant partner.
Sammy Stewart raised more than £3,000 last year for the Storm Arwen-damaged Arbroath Animal Rescue Centre, where he got his dog Buddy.
Earlier this week, a court heard that the 36-year-old choked a woman on two occasions in 2017.
He also grabbed her hair and tried to pull her out of a car while she was heavily pregnant.
Offshore worker grew £5,000 of cannabis
An offshore worker who used the internet to learn how to grow cannabis was caught with up to £5,000 worth of the illegal plants in his spare bedroom.
Ross Walton set up two growing tents in his home near Alford, after deciding to self-medicate for various ailments by growing his own cannabis plants.
The first-time offender was prescribed antidepressants at the time because he had become depressed during Covid lockdowns.
But he was caught when police received a tip-off about his cultivation at the Littlewood Park property, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Joyrider crashed workmate’s Mini
A disqualified motorist took his workmate’s car for a joyride and drove it 75 miles down the A9 before crashing it outside a popular Perthshire guesthouse.
Joe Malcolm, who was caught by police inside the stricken Mini, blamed the offence on his “significant lifestyle issues”.
The 30-year-old, whose address was listed as Laundry Cottage, Cromlix, Dunblane, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court.
Malcolm admitted taking the blue Mini without the owner’s consent from a property at Dalnabay, Aviemore, on February 24 2021.
Couple banned from keeping pets
An Aberdeen couple has been banned from having pets after welfare officers found around 60 neglected animals crammed into their flat.
John and Victoria Symon’s Seaton Gardens home had an “overpowering” smell of animal excrement when inspectors first visited in August 2020.
Scottish SPCA officials discovered appalling conditions, with animals from bearded dragons to guinea pigs all within the reeking address.
John Symon, 41, and his 36-year-old wife Victoria were – at first – offered support instead of prosecution.
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Blood-stained bed sheets shown to jury as ex-policeman describes Brenda Page murder scene
Jurors in the Brenda Page murder trial were shown a picture of the scientist’s blood-stained bed sheets recovered by police from her Aberdeen flat.
Former police sergeant Eric Grant described the grizzly scene he discovered upon arriving at Allan Street, Aberdeen, on the afternoon of July 14 1978.
He found Dr Page, 32, “laying face-up” across her bed and “obviously dead”.
The 67-year-old retired policeman told the High Court in Aberdeen that the geneticist had “suffered head injuries and a violent death”.
Cliff plunge survivor given second chance by court
A young offender who survived a Caithness cliff fall that killed his girlfriend has been given a chance to get his life back on track.
Dominic Long has struggled with mental health issues since last summer’s tragedy at Victoria Walk in Thurso, where Alesha Wright, 18, plunged 50 feet to her death.
The 27-year-old was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and referred to the community psychiatric nurse service, following the horrific ordeal on July 11 last year.
Long appeared at Wick Sheriff Court on Thursday when he was due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to possession of drugs, a curfew breach, and a breach of the peace.
Man led police on high-speed chase
A man who tried to crawl through a smashed window dressed in camouflage went on to lead police on a high-speed chase on the A96.
James Lees was only apprehended after the five-mile police pursuit ended with a car crash in Elgin.
The 45-year-old repeatedly refused to stop, despite being tailed by two police vehicles with flashing blue lights.
His defence solicitor later described the episode as a “completely ridiculous set of circumstances” when his client appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court.
Man hid drugs and knife in bottom
A man who complained of having a sore bottom was caught hiding drugs and a knife inside so he could smuggle them into prison.
Mark Main, 37, tried to stash two wraps of drugs and a small knife inside himself as he expected to be arrested on a separate matter.
But his plan failed when he told police officers that he felt sore and they spotted blood on the back of his trousers.
After several visits to the toilet in his cell, police discovered the drugs and blade.
Man wearing thong caught in sex act when noisy high heels disturbed resident
A man was caught performing a solo sex act in a Stonehaven alleyway while wearing a thong when his noisy high heel shoes disturbed a nearby resident.
Ryan McAndrew’s cream or gold-coloured heels drew attention as he paced up and down the dark lane.
The 38-year-old then lowered his thong and carried out a sexual act in the street.
He went on to carry out similar indecent behaviour in another Stonehaven alleyway just over a month later.
Woman punished after pet ferret mauled toddler who suffered 200 horrific wounds
A woman who fell into an alcohol and drug-fuelled sleep while a pet ferret mauled a toddler has returned to court for sentencing.
Natasha Beattie awoke to screams from the three-year-old boy who was covered in blood from bites and scratches.
He’d suffered more than 200 injuries, including 50 bite and puncture wounds that have left him permanently scarred.
Earlier, Beattie had put the child to bed, before downing two bottles of blue WKD and more than double her prescribed dose of Quetiapine – a medication used for mental health conditions.
Brenda Page’s ex-husband was ‘very unemotional’ when told she had been murdered, retired policeman tells court
The police officer who arrested the ex-husband of Brenda Page on the day of her death has described him as “very unemotional” upon hearing his ex-wife had been murdered.
Retired police sergeant Brian Kennedy said Dr Christopher ‘Kit’ Harrisson, 82, didn’t ask how or where the 32-year-old had died, when told she had been brutally killed.
Mr Kennedy, who was a detective constable at the time, told the High Court in Aberdeen that Harrisson simply replied: “Oh my God. How awful”.
When he learned he was being arrested, Harrisson – who denies killing Brenda – then asked if he could “feed his chickens” before being taken into custody.
Former oil worker wrapped dog lead around woman
A violent repeat offender who choked and throttled women during terrifying attacks has been jailed for six years and nine months.
Kyle Torliefson assaulted one victim by compressing her throat until she lost consciousness.
He wrapped a dog lead around her neck and tightened it during a life-endangering attack.
A judge told the 32-year-old at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You have pled guilty to 15 charges of violence committed against three women”.
Disgraced drink-driver blamed massive queue for taxis
A drink-driver blamed a massive queue for taxis after he was caught driving at more than three-and-a-half times the alcohol limit.
Scott Paterson had enjoyed a night out with his partner in the city centre of Aberdeen.
The couple went for a meal and drinks, intending to leave their car in town and return home by taxi.
But when the pair arrived at the taxi rank later that evening, they faced a massive queue of more than 100 people.
Drunk son swore and spat at elderly mum’s carer
A drunk son who wrongly believed that his mum wasn’t getting the care she deserved turned up to her care home “ranting and raving”.
Colin Ross hurled abuse at the woman’s carer during a foul-mouthed rant at Loxa Court care home in Elgin.
He demanded to see his mum after declaring down the intercom phone that he wasn’t happy with the care that she was receiving there.
But the 52-year-old, whose mother refused to see him, was told that he was too drunk to be allowed inside and he responded by calling the carer a “c***”.
Sniffer dog caught drug addict posting heroin to Shetland
A man sent £20,000 worth of heroin in the post from Stonehaven to Shetland but police intercepted the package and traced it right back to his home.
Marc Smith was foiled by a sniffer dog that detected diamorphine inside the parcel, which he had sent using a tracked delivery service.
The 25-year-old drug addict had been facing threats of violence against himself and his family if he refused to take on the mailing job to clear his debts with drug dealers.
But he was caught out by unlucky timing when police happened to be carrying out an anti-drugs operation at the Royal Mail Sorting Office in Lerwick.
Former ambulance worker stored almost £100,000 of cannabis in his flat to ‘help out a friend’
A former ambulance worker claimed he was “helping out a friend” when he agreed to store almost £100,000 of cannabis in his flat.
Christopher Howie said he had done the favour for a new acquaintance who suspected that his own home was about to be searched by police.
But Howie, 39, later landed in the dock after the haul was discovered at the former ambulance call handler and ex-RAF first responder volunteer’s home in Aberdeen.
Six vacuum bags containing cannabis were recovered from a cupboard and another was found inside a holdall.
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