Another collection of true crime tales from courts across Tayside and Fife.
Amazon freebie
A Burntisland man persuaded an Amazon delivery driver to part with a parcel containing a £60 blender.
Wayne Ross, of the town’s Nicol Drive, admitted that he stole the package on February 3 last year.
The 40-year-old had been sitting outside the intended recipient’s flat with a friend when the delivery driver arrived to hand over the blender.
Ross struck up conversation with the courier and managed to coerce him into handing over the package, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard.
Fiscal depute Xander van der Scheer explained the blender was never recovered.
Ross’s solicitor Graham Inch said: “His drug difficulty if fully under control.”
Sheriff Craig McSherry fined Ross £270 and ordered him to pay a further £60 in compensation.
Blocked toilet trial
A Dundee man is to stand trial accused of blocking his toilet and causing damage to neighbour’s properties.
Jed Boyd, 30, is accused of putting household items down his loo before repeatedly flushing it, causing it to overflow.
It is alleged this caused damage to other properties.
Boyd, of Happyhillock Walk, will stand trial in October, with an intermediate diet set for September.
Mum-from-hell
A Perth mother-from-hell who carried out a 20-year campaign of violent abuse against her daughters collapsed in the dock as she was jailed for two years.
The 64-year-old laughed as she broke her daughter’s arm by hurling her against a wall and refused to take her to hospital because she was watching soap operas on television, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
The unrepentant pensioner claimed she only abused the girls because she had a difficult childhood herself, and complained ‘I’ll lose my home’ after being told she was being sent to prison.
Bus station assault
A Kirkcaldy man has admitted attacking two men at the town’s bus station.
One of Colin McGuire‘s victims was left severely injured, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard.
The 45-year-old admitted repeatedly punching Michael Anderson on the head and body, leaving him injured, on November 5, 2020.
On the same day, he repeatedly punched John Dryburgh on the head and body, and also kicked him in the head.
Mr Dryburgh sustained “severe” injuries, court papers say.
No details of the incident were read out in court.
Sheriff Craig McSherry deferred sentence until March 15 for reports.
McGuire, of Rosabelle Street in Kirkcaldy, was released on bail.
Jail warning over caravan invite
An Arbroath sex offender faces jail for breaking a strict court by inviting a young family and their son to stay at his holiday home.
Convicted child molester James Hutchison, 68, admitted the breach between August and September 2020.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how Hutchison, of Ladyloan, Arbroath, had encouraged a relationship with a “vulnerable” family and suggested they could stay together at his caravan in the north-east of Scotland.
The family had helped the pensioner with his shopping during the first coronavirus lockdown, delivering messages to his home.
The family were completely unaware of Hutchison ‘s offending history or court order.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
