Here are five stories you might have missed from Inverness Sheriff Court this week.
1) A 25 year old Inverness man was given a package of heroin to deliver to help pay off a drugs debt.
But police were tipped off about Callum Melbourne and stopped his car in Rose Street, Inverness on June 14 last year.
When searched, Melbourne of Croft Lane, had 13.5 grams of heroin, with a £400 street value, in his possession.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, he admitted possessing the class A narcotic with intent to supply and was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work.
He was also placed under 18 months of social work supervision.
Defence solicitor Pauline Chapman said her client and his family had been threatened over the debt.
2) A Moray off-shore worker who drove dangerously for the second time was banned from driving for 30 months at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood also fined 39 year old Mark Watson of Forteath Street, Burghead, £800 after he admitted the offence.
He noted that Watson also had a conviction for speeding.
The court heard that a police speed check recorded Watson travelling at 106mph in a 60mph zone on the A96 at Tomhommie on November 7.
3) Police answered a call complaining about a man injecting heroin in an Inverness doorway.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told yesterday that they found 43-year-old Mark Stewart, of Carnarc Crescent, in a communal area of a property in Friar’s Street with 0.3 grams of the class A drug on May 24 last year.
He admitted the offence.
Stewart, who is currently serving a six week jail sentence for a breach of an earlier community payback order, was imprisoned for an additional two months.
4) A 21-year-old Inverness man was warned he would go to jail if he didn’t stop behaving in “an appalling way” towards his partner.
Daniel Watcott had admitted his second domestic abuse offence at hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court last month and had sentence deferred for a background report until yesterday.
Watcott of Birchview Court pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman in a property in Murray Terrace on November 28.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told he placed her in a headlock, threw her to the ground and struggled with her over a skateboard.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood heard Watcott was on a community payback order and had a similar previous conviction.
Defence agent Clare Russell said: “He accepts full responsibility for his actions.”
The Sheriff ordered Watcott to be under social work supervision for 18 months, take part in a domestic abuse programme and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
He added: “Stop behaving in this appalling way towards your partner or you will go to jail.”
5) Police spent hours looking for a nuisance caller in Fortrose before eventually finding her in the early hours of a January morning.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Elizabeth Gibson, 20, of Cathedral Square, had made three 999 calls throughout the day on January 20.
They resulted in two police officers being dispatched in case the calls were a genuine request for assistance.
But it was a case of third time lucky when they returned to the seaboard village and saw Gibson walking in the street.
Fiscal depute Fiona Murray told Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood that officers knew that Gibson had offended in this way before and detained her.
“She told police she couldn’t remember making them as she had been smoking a lot of weed beforehand.”
Mrs Murray said that members of the public had been deprived of these officers for long periods as they searched for the culprit.
Defence agent Ken Ferguson said his client had “a major issue in her life” and she needed help.
“I have seen many reports on her but this is the first one where she is willing to talk about what is troubling her.”
He asked the Sheriff for sentence to be deferred for a psychiatric report to be prepared so her problems could be addressed to stop her offending.
“If she is sent to jail, she is in danger of being institutionalised.” Mr Ferguson added.
But Sheriff Fleetwood rejected the lawyer’s plea.
He told Gibson: “We have given you every opportunity in the last couple of years to change your behaviour. The last time, it was only four days before you offended in the same way again.
“It is my duty to protect the public.”
He sentenced her to four months detention, backdated to January 2 when she was taken into custody.
