Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases – from the drunk oil worker who was kicked off a plane at Aberdeen Airport to the Greggs customer who erupted in anger when he discovered the steak bakes were cold.
On Monday, a drunk offshore worker appeared in court after he was removed from a plane at Aberdeen International Airport for abusing staff and refusing to wear a facemask.
Dad-of-one Karl Poundall was preparing to fly home to England yesterday when he became aggressive and abusive to staff at the terminal’s Distilling House bar and police had to be called in.
While in the holding cells at the airport he also threatened to kill a police officer, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Man who hid drugs up his bottom avoids stretch in prison
A 20-year-old suspected of dealing drugs hid cocaine up his bottom when police paid him a visit.
Jack Monaghan was found with a quantity of Class A drug hidden inside of him when he was taken to Fraserburgh Police Station.
Monaghan was originally lifted by police when officers visited a Fraserburgh home as part of a missing person investigation in October.
Drunk man’s Boxing Day mystery
A drunk man who found him inside a stranger’s home on Boxing Day and had to smash his way out still has no idea why he was there in the first place.
Kieran Sievwright, 23, was caught smashing up the inside of the property although, perhaps surprisingly, his antics didn’t disturb the owner, who slept soundly throughout the entire “bizarre” incident.
Police were called to the house in Inverallochy at around 3am on December 26 last year after receiving reports of a disturbance.
Thief caught by neighbours
A thief was chased down by neighbours after being spotted acting suspiciously with a bag of electronics outside an Aberdeen address.
Martins Veznieks was spotted by residents on Sunnyside Terrace behaving in a suspicious manner with a blue holdall bag outside an adjacent property.
The residents “gave chase”, caught up with the 39-year-old and “escorted” him back to the property where they called the police.
Domestic abuser disfigured partner with boiling water
A man has been convicted of a horrendous campaign of domestic abuse, which included disfiguring his partner with boiling water and pushing dog poo through a letterbox.
John Strathdee was on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court facing a charge of engaging in a course of conduct that was abusive of the woman between July 18 and December 31 last year.
The 56-year-old denied the charge, but a remote jury took around three hours to find him guilty by majority verdict.
Strathdee’s abusive conduct took place at addresses in Aberdeen, Huntly and Aviemore.
Dad turned to drug dealing during pandemic
A dad who became a drug dealer to cope with the financial pressures of the pandemic has been jailed.
Richard Johnson, 44, previously admitted shipping cocaine and heroin worth up to £14,000 to Shetland in June last year.
His haul was discovered after police received intelligence regarding a suspect package from a delivery company in Glasgow.
School janitor banned from driving
A school janitor who got behind the wheel after being sent home from work for smelling of booze has been banned from the roads.
Kenneth Mullan, 51, was told to leave Aboyne Academy after a colleague detected alcohol on his breath at 10am on November 13 last year and reported it to the deputy headmaster.
It was soon noticed his car was missing from the staff car park and the police were called.
Man pulled drugs out bum then swallowed them
A north-east man has been jailed after he necked drugs he’d pulled from his bottom just seconds before.
Karl McGeary, from Peterhead, admitted obstructing a police constable who was carrying out a search for controlled drugs on January 29 last year.
The charge states he resisted the officer by removing the drugs from his bottom and swallowing them.
Baking and entering
A serial thief has been jailed after he was caught red-handed stealing cakes from an award-winning Aberdeen shop.
Paul Urquhart was discovered in the basement of O’caykx on Schoolhill when staff heard a rustling noise and demanded that he show himself.
The 44-year old attempted to flee the scene but was stopped by employees, who found he had stolen three boxes of designer cakes.
Hypnotherapist sentenced for car sex act
A hypnotherapist who was filmed carrying out a sex act on himself by two schoolboys has been placed on the sex offender’s register.
Gary Sutherland was spotted by the youngsters in his vehicle as they made their way home from school in May this year.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how one of the teenagers noticed what the 59-year old was up to and captured video footage on his mobile phone.
But as soon as Sutherland realised he was being filmed, he fled the scene in his car.
Christmas Day punch-up in pub
A dad has been fined after arming himself with a pool cue during a Christmas Day punch-up in an Aberdeen pub.
Sean Hanratty “lost his temper” after a man made sexual comments towards his brother’s partner in The Parkway Inn on Balgownie Road, Bridge of Don.
The men “squared up”, but another unidentified man came between the parties and ended up being knocked to the floor twice by Hanratty.
Man caught filming in public toilet
A pervert who “covertly” filmed another man using the toilet by sliding his iPhone under a cubicle partition has been put on the sex offenders register.
Innes Skene, 23, entered a shared toilet block on Inverurie’s Keithhall Road on the morning of May 24 and went into one of the cubicles.
A man in the neighbouring cubicle glanced down and noticed an iPhone being slid under the wall partition and pointing up at him.
Man threatened to release intimate video of woman
A man who threatened to make intimate videos of a woman public has been told he must complete 100 hours unpaid work.
Andrew Hillhouse, 21, of Lochalsh Court, Inverness, appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court having previously pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to disclose images which showed, or appeared to show, an intimate situation.
The court heard that the threat was made following a difference of opinion between Hillhouse and the woman, who had previously exchanged consensual intimate images.
Decorating firm boss fined after roof plunge
The boss of a decorating firm has been fined after an employee broke his back when he fell through a roof.
Neil Beattie, 50, who was trading as NB Decorating, had been working on the fragile plastic roof of a carport attached to Whitemyres Croft in Daviot when an employee fell through it onto the concrete ground below.
He was left with horror injuries, including two broken bones in his back, had to wear a back brace for a year on his release from hospital.
His injuries also meant he was unable to continue in the same line of work.
Killer drink driver loses fight to restore licence
A drink driver whose actions resulted in the death of his friend has failed in a legal bid to have his licence restored.
Murray Geddes, 43, was sent to prison for nine years after admitting he caused the death of passenger Graeme McKenzie, 37, by driving dangerously in May 2014 on the A941 Craigellachie to Rothes road in Moray.
Mr McKenzie, an offshore worker from Rothes, was thrown from Geddes’ Audi S3. The driver later told police he got into the car because he was fed up waiting for a taxi.
Judge Lord Glennie also banned Geddes from driving for 12 years. However, appeal judges reduced Geddes’s jail term to six years and cut his disqualification to eight years.
Lost coat sparked British Legion rammy
A man who kicked off in a town’s Royal British Legion before assaulting the police officers who turned up to arrest him has avoided jail.
Brett Sinclair, 30, of Woodend Terrace, Grantown-on-Spey, was instead ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work at his sentencing for a string of offences including assault and assaulting a police constable.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Sinclair went to the establishment to have a drink with colleagues but ended up “very heavily under the influence of alcohol”.
Fiscal Depute David Morton told the court that Sinclair began to act in an aggressive manner, shouting, swearing and “uttering offensive remarks towards anyone and everyone”.
Woman attacked partner and kicked cop
A woman has been given 12 months to turn her life around after she attacked her partner and kicked a cop – claiming she had “no other option”.
Amy Bremner admitted lashing out at her former partner on May 28 this year by punching him in the face and body at a property in Dyce.
As police responded, the 28-year old continued to act in a threatening and abusive manner culminating in her kicking a female officer in the stomach as she tried to arrest her.
Council calls police on domestic abuser
Aberdeenshire Council were forced to alert cops to the behaviour of an abusive man after his partner barricaded herself in a bathroom.
Ryan Moar and his former partner got into a heated argument resulting in him becoming verbally abusive towards her and punching holes in doors and walls.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the 39-year old’s threatening behaviour intensified to the point where his partner called the council and barricaded herself in the bathroom.
Chimney sweep’s second drink-drive conviction
The Highlands’ first female chimney sweep lost her driving licence for a second time after admitting a further drink-drive offence in two years.
Carolyn Naisby of Rose Street, Avoch, had already been banned for a year in 2019 and the disqualification ended in January last year.
But Inverness Sheriff Court was told that 10 months later, an anonymous tip-off led police to issue a look-out for the 40-year-old, who was suspected of being over the limit.
Cold steak bake sparks racist rant
A hungry racist flew into a rage and caused £700 worth of damage at a branch of Greggs after being told the steak bakes were cold.
Hot-tempered Michael Mooney lost his cool when staff at the Westhill outlet told him the popular pastry snack was no longer warm.
The 31-year-old angrily ranted at staff about the temperature of the food, refusing to leave and even racially abusing one employee.
