It’s the end of the week, folks.
Single image
A Dysart man has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register after being found with a single child abuse image.
Peter Batten had a category-B image on his laptop.
The 52-year-old’s solicitor told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court Batten had not used the laptop since 2018.
Batten, of Anderson Street, Dysart, admitted between May 2, 2017 and October 16, 2019, at his home address or elsewhere, he took, or permitted to be taken, or make, indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.
After reading a psychological report, Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane placed him under supervision for 12 months and placed him on the register for the same period.
Bridge strike trial
Arbroath man Joeli Nakavulevu, 32, will stand trial accused of striking a Perthshire A90 flyover with an HGV. The crossing to Glencarse was closed for months from Halloween night, 2019, opening in November 2020 after £650,000 worth of repairs. Nakavulevu denies dangerous driving.
Welsh racist
A Welsh man who racially abused Scottish police officers during a row in Perth has dodged a prison sentence.
Benjamin Jenkins flew into a rage as he was loaded into a police van at the city’s Weavers Well Crescent in August last year.
He shouted and swore at officers, calling them “Scottish b******s” and “f***ing Scottish c***s.”
The 46-year-old, who said he had no memory of the incident, later sent a series of menacing messages to his girlfriend.
Jenkins, who stays in Pontypridd, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court, having admitted charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and sending messages to his partner that were “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.
Sheriff Gillian Wade told him: “You are at the custodial sentence threshold.”
She ordered him to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work as a “direct alternative” to prison.
The court also imposed a non-harassment order, banning Jenkins from contacting his ex-partner for two years.
Double attempted murder
Mark Wishart, from Bridge of Earn faces a lengthy prison sentence after being found guilty of attempting to murder two men by driving his car at them in Perth city centre. The High Court in Dundee heard both escaped with minor injuries after one was thrown over the bonnet of the 36-year-old’s car and the other was clipped on the hip, outside the popular Loft nightclub.
Mercedes ‘theft’
Two men allegedly stole a Mercedes which was later involved in a smash in Dundee.
Richard Flanagan, 20 and 33-year-old David Tracey allegedly stole the car from an address on Avondale Terrace on November 11.
It is claimed Flanagan was driving the Mercedes Benz when it was involved in a crash on Saggar Street with a Ford Ranger and a Volkswagen Tiguan.
Both men allegedly stole sunglasses and a plug from a car on Deepdale Place before attempting to steal from another vehicle on Avondale Place.
Gillian Finnigan, 38, allegedly allowed herself to be carried in the stolen car driven by Flanagan.
Prosecutors allege Flanagan failed to stop or report the collision with the two cars to the police.
The trio, all of Brewery Lane, made no plea when they appeared on petition at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael continued their cases for further examination.
Flanagan and Finnigan were released on bail while Tracey was remanded in custody.
‘Nuclear option’
Dunfermline man Daryl Mann has been threatened in court with the “nuclear option” if he does not behave after admitting threatening his former partner’s new man. The 33-year-old said “you’re a marked man” to the male after claiming he had been driving up and down his street.
Toe cap kick
A Glenrothes man kicked a child while wearing steel toe cap boots after the boy stood on his toe.
Jason Proctor admitted three assaults on the child, who was just seven at the time, at an address in Kinglassie.
The 37-year-old also hit the child so hard he winded him after the boy ran into him.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, his solicitor said Proctor had been suffering a period of stress at the time of the offences.
Proctor, of Tern Court, Glenrothes, admitted three charges of assaulting the child between March 1 and April 30, 2019.
Sentence was deferred until February.
In case you missed it…
Thursday round-up — Totally obsessed and banker bully
Wednesday round-up — Sock fetish and kebab blaze cannabis
Tuesday round-up — Police chase and trafficking charges
Monday round-up — Machete madness
Fife slushy machine engineer threatened to post nude pictures of woman in debt dispute