Weekend court roll – our round-up of the most-read cases of the week

Our team of reporters have been covering courts across the north-east and Highlands to bring you the most interesting cases from across our patch. Here is a selection of the stories our readers enjoyed most this week:

Cops halt car chase involving teen due to it being too dangerous

On Monday, we brought you a story about a young man who led police on a lethal car chase across Aberdeen.

Ellis Leisk was traced on Anderson Drive but failed to stop and a pursuit began.

The 19-year-old sped across the city at up to 50mph in residential areas, cutting across grassy areas and driving on pavements.

Married man caught by paedophile hunters

A married middle-aged man has escaped a jail sentence after he attempted to get young girls to send him indecent photographs of themselves.

Kevin Johnston was snared by a paedophile hunting group that had posed as underage teenagers on the internet.

Johnston, from Forres, sent them videos of himself carrying out a sex act whilst he was at work and at home.

Lifeboat volunteer hoaxed his own crewmates

On Tuesday, we reported about a RNLI lifeboat volunteer who made hoax calls to the coastguard – just so he could get out in the boat.

Leon Marandola sent messages he knew to be false through VHF radio, 999 calls and Facebook posts, flagging that vessels or people were requiring rescue at sea.

In one instance a helicopter crew was diverted all the way from Stornoway to the north coast whilst dealing with an emergency.

Drug dealer’s £25,000 heroin stash found following motorbike crash

An Elgin drug dealer’s £25,000 heroin haul was discovered when paramedics had to cut him free of his rucksack after a serious motorbike crash.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard how paramedics then handed Garry Collie’s rucksack  over to cops.

When the the zip was opened officers could see that inside there was a brown taped package, a bag containing brown powder and £1,556 in cash.

£700,000 fine for firm after worker’s death

One of the country’s biggest construction companies has been fined £700,000 after one of their employees was crushed to death by a dumper truck.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the death of 61-year-old  John Cameron on BAM Nuttall’s site to build a sub-station at Blackhillock, near Keith, led to industry-wide changes to health and safety rules.

The company admitted failing to make a suitable risk assessment in the task of repair and replacement of equipment on-site and the risk of vehicles and pedestrians coming into contact with each other.

Brothers lay in wait to racially abuse Burger King staff

On Wednesday, two brothers were fined after they followed fast-food staff home and racially abused them.

Richard and Stewart Treagus refused to leave the Union Street branch of Burger King and became aggressive with staff – with one brother telling a security guard he would be “waiting for him outside”.

When the two workers left work later that morning the two men followed them and made racist and offensive remarks.

Thug attacked girlfriend with belt after she got dirt on carpet

An Aberdeen man physically assaulted his partner with a belt when she brought dirt into the house that got onto the living room carpet.

Zbigniew Kulik attacked the woman at an address in Aberdeen by seizing her by the head and hammering repeated blows to her face before swinging a belt by the buckle and striking her with it.

The 42-year old became incensed in May 2020 when the woman brought soil in from the garden on her feet, which left dirty marks on the living room carpet.

Speeder incensed by cop who raised his voice

A sheriff has told a dad caught speeding at nearly 100mph that cops don’t need to be polite after he lost the rag because an officer raised his voice at him.

Drew Kilminster overtook police officers on the AWPR Cleanhill to Charleston road in the early hours of the morning, before zooming off at 95mph.

When the cops caught up with the 24-year-old and pulled him over, Kilminster lost his temper and swore when one of the officers shouted at him.

Predatory student who raped woman is jailed

A predatory university student who snatched a woman from an Aberdeen street and subjected her to a terrifying rape ordeal was jailed.

Callum Duncan, 23, followed his victim before grabbing her by the hair and dragging her into a block of flats.

A judge told Duncan: “Your victim was a complete stranger to you. She was walking home to a friend’s house after a night out.”

‘A huge fall from grace’

An Aberdeen solicitor found herself in the dock on Wednesday after embezzling more than £12,000 from clients’ accounts to keep her husband’s struggling firm afloat.

Louise Sutherland – also known as Murray – swindled the money by creating false invoices for work which was neither required nor carried out while employed by Graeme Murray & Co Solicitors in Aberdeen.

The 60-year-old embezzled  £12,547.49 over the course of nearly 20 months in a bid to keep the firm going and avoid laying off staff, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.

Three years jail for driver who killed cafe owner

A 28-year-old who caused the death of a popular Oban cafe owner after driving dangerously has been jailed for three years.

Julie Goodman was killed when Samuel Lloyd’s VW Tiguan veered onto the wrong side of the road and careered into her red Citroen C1 on October, 15, 2018.

The 53-year-old, known as Joolz, died at the scene.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, a judge told Lloyd that Mrs Goodman had done nothing wrong before the early morning crash on the A816 near Oude Dam between Kilmelford and Kilninver.

‘It is war’: Man locked up for axe attack

On Thursday, a thug who carried out a brutal axe attack on a man has been jailed for six years.

David Reid, 32, struck Iain Wilson outside a house in Marchburn Crescent, Aberdeen on April 21 last year.

Reid had got out of a car in which a woman heard cries of: “It is war. It is on. We are not f***ing about.”

Inverness market trader who faked his own death jailed for 15 years

On Friday, a well-known market trader who abused women and children and then tried to fake his own death was jailed for 15 years.

Kim Avis, 57, raped and molested victims during an 11-year campaign of sex crimes in the Highlands.

Avis, also a city centre busker, preyed on two girls and two women between 2006 and 2017, mainly in Inverness – including at his property called Wolves Den.

Paedophile monk admits abusing boys at Highland boarding school

A perverted monk who fought extradition from Australia admitted sexually abusing two former pupils at a fee-paying Highland school more than 40 years ago.

Denis Alexander, 85, preyed on the schoolboys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, whilst teaching history at Fort Augustus Abbey school in the 1970s.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard on Friday how Alexander targeted the young men in his study and during Yoga classes.

Lord Burns deferred sentence on the first offender for the court to obtain reports about his background.

He will be sentenced next month.

Pensioner in dock over alleged homophobic emails to Grampian Pride organiser

A pensioner has denied emailing homophobic abuse to one of the organisers of Grampian Pride.

Thomas Owenson is alleged to have sent “offensive and abusive” messages to Deejay Bullock, who is the founder of LGBT+ charity Four Pillars.

The 72-year-old is accused of sending the emails to Mr Bullock, who is also one of the organisers of Grampian Pride, on February 23 and March 2 last year.

Owenson appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court representing himself over the matter and pled not guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, aggravated by prejudice relating to sexual orientation.