An Inverness woman caught with pepper spray in her handbag has been fined £400.
Ruth Wardhaugh, 54, of Craigton Avenue, pleaded guilty to possessing the prohibited weapon at Inverness Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
Fiscal depute Alex Swain told the court Wardhaugh’s car had been stopped by police on Anderson Street in Inverness just after 3pm on July 3 2018. The officers then proceeded to caution her and detain her for a drugs search.
Drugs search uncovered weapon
She said: “During the course of the search the item named in the charge, which was what appeared to be pepper spray, was found within her handbag.”
An investigation later confirmed that the weapon contained the irritant capsaicin.
Gary Miller, mitigating, explained the item had been a gift to his client but accepted that her “ignorance as to the nature of it” was no excuse for possessing it, hence her guilty plea.
Sheriff Iain Cruickshank fined Wardhaugh £400 and granted a motion for forfeiture of the weapon.
