Tuesday courts round-up – Neo-Nazis and Oliver Twist

Good evening – here are the stories that caught the attention of our reporters today.

Notorious attacker’s neo-Nazi hoard

A man who attacked a woman so brutally she lost the ability to speak has now been convicted of possessing bomb-making and other terrorist material.

Jon Craig’s hoard of terrorist literature and neo-Nazi photographs were discovered by police as they investigated him for assaulting the Polish shortbread factory supervisor in Elgin.

The dad-of-five was described as “cowardly and vicious” after he shattered 44-year-old Katarzyna Jaloszynska’s skull and smashed bones in her face during the early morning revenge attack on October 26 2017.

Inverness Sheriff Court was told today that police discovered another sinister side to Craig, 59, when they searched his computer and found details for the ingredients and method used to make explosives and a bomb.

Consider yourself jailed

A man described as Aberdeen’s version of Oliver Twist after being taught to be a thief at the age of just 10 has been jailed for 27 months.

Veteran housebreaker Kevin Leslie’s life of crime began in childhood and has landed him in prison once again.

The 44-year-old’s latest crime was breaking into two high-rise flats and stealing gadgets, cash and bank cards as the occupants slept.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told he was caught after one of the owners spotted footprints on the worktop of her Hutcheon Court home.

Rude hand gesture sparks road rage

An angry motorist slammed on his brakes and pulled out a baseball bat after a roadside worker gave him a rude hand gesture.

The “inappropriate” hand gesture was prompted because Billy Wilson, 25, drove past the man at high speed and at close range, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.

The worker was putting up a “men at work” sign on the B9024 Turriff to Huntly road on May 4 last year when the encounter happened.

Wilson’s car screeched to a halt and he exited the vehicle brandishing a silver metal baseball bat.

Teen claims he slashed man’s face after sexual assault

A teenager who slashed a man in the face because he believed he had been sexually assaulted has been locked up for 10 months.

Dylan Thorpe, who previously lived in Strathpeffer and Dingwall but is currently serving a 12 months sentence in a Young Offender’s Institution for a later double stabbing, will also be supervised for five months on his release next year.

Thorpe previously appeared before Sheriff Ian Cruickshank as a first offender and admitted repeatedly striking a man on the head and body with a knife to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement in a house in Oldtown Road, Inverness, on December 4, 2019.

Sentence had been deferred for a background report.

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