Here is a round-up of stories from Inverness Sheriff Court that you may have missed this week.
1. Nairn man grabbed spanner after someone chatted up his friend’s girlfriend
A Sheriff told a Nairn youth who grabbed a spanner because he saw someone chatting up his friend’s girlfriend he was lucky not to be jailed yesterday.
Instead, Lewis Maclean, 18, was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Maclean, of Cameron Road, got out of a car in Camperdown Road at 2am on April 2 and walked up to a group of youths with the spanner hidden in his trousers.
Depute fiscal Stewart Maciver said: “He took the spanner from the boot but by the time he had reached the others, things had calmed down and he returned to his vehicle without using the spanner.”
Asked by Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood what he intended to do with the spanner, Maclean – who admitted possession of an offensive weapon – said he didn’t know.
Sheriff Fleetwood told Maclean arming himself with a weapon in a public place normally comes with a custodial sentence.
2. Moray man banned from roads after driving while almost five times the legal limit
A 59-year-old Dufftown man who crashed his car near Grantown-on-Spey was almost five times the legal alcohol limit.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, Alan MacWilliam of Conval Street was fined £750 and banned from driving for two years after admitting the offence which occurred on the A95 on November 6 last year.
3. Inverness man stole meat from supermarket because his benefit hadn’t arrived
A 47-year-old Inverness man who stole meat from an Inverness Tesco store because his benefit had not come through was fined £200 yesterday.
Ralph Hayden of Church Street admitted theft by shoplifting on August 19 at Inverness Sheriff Court whilst on bail.
His lawyer Aileen Macinnes said: “The theft was for his own use.”
4. Heroin dealer jailed for six months
A 25 year old Inverness man was jailed for six months at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday for dealing heroin.
Joseph Stewart’s accomplice, 50 year old Dawn MacNiven of Bruce Avenue, had her sentence deferred for a drug treatment and testing order assessment.
Both admitted being concerned in the supply of the class A narcotic on January 20, this year in Mackintosh Road.
The court was told that police received intelligence that Ms MacNiven was involved in drug dealing and were notified about her Audi car.
Officers went to the Scotmid car park and found the pair in the vehicle. It was searched, as well as her property and 14 grams of heroin worth £700 was found, the court heard.
5. Police searched Inverness man’s home and found heroin worth almost £2,000
A 33-year-old man who admitted being concerned in the supply of almost £2,000 worth of heroin was jailed for six months yesterday.
Joseph Conway, of St Francis Gardens, Inverness, had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence and a background report being prepared.
He had pleaded guilty to the charge at Inverness Sheriff Court last month.
Depute fiscal David Morton told the court police entered Conway’s home address on April 20 last year following concerns raised by social workers about the welfare of the occupants.
Mr Morton said: “Upon entering to check on the welfare of the parties and their children they found various zip seal bags containing controlled drugs.”
Mr Morton said there were three zip seal bags containing heroin found in the property and that there was a total of 23 grammes of heroin found in three zip lock containers.
He added: “Diamorphine (heroin) is typically sold in £10 bags, each containing about 0.1 grammes. The street value of this is £1,900.”
Sheriff Fleetwood said: “Given you now admit supply of class A drugs, I can see little alternative to a custodial sentence.”
6. Inverness man who had knife in public place and stole charity box behind bars
An Inverness man who stole a charity box and alcohol during a series of thefts from city stores was jailed for nine months yesterday.
Jason Stewart, 25, c/o HMP Inverness but formerly of Culduthel Road, admitted charges including thefts from Co-op stores in Church Street, Wester Inshes, Green Drive, Rosedene House and a Spar store in Anderson Court.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in a public place and taking a taxi in Inverness and not paying the fare.
The offences took place between April and June this year.
He also admitted a breach of bail on March 6 last year by contacting a woman by text who he was told not to contact by a court bail order. Sentence had been deferred at Inverness Sheriff Court for a background report.
Depute fiscal David Morton said in some cases food and alcohol stolen from stores by Stewart were recovered but the charity boxes and their contents were not.
Solicitor Neil Wilson said” “It is clear from the background report that the offences were drug related.”
“My client had been subject to a drug treatment testing order for three years and he was a star pupil. But he cut down his methadone to the stage he wasn’t taking any and thereafter began offending again.”
