An Angus man who pretended he would carry out landscaping works across the county but ran off with deposits must complete unpaid work.
Steven Mitchell admitted engaging in a fraudulent scheme to obtain funds from three people.
Mitchell, from Inverarity, had targeted properties in Glamis and Forfar between March and May and in December 2019.
He pled guilty to not returning deposits after failing to complete promised work.
The 37-year-old’s solicitor Billy Rennie explained civil proceedings had reunited two of the complainers with their cash.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown ordered Mitchell to complete 90 hours of unpaid work.
Al fresco liaisons
A Forfar couple have been convicted of having sex in broad daylight in their communal garden. Clive Weatherhogg, 49 and Kirsty Jones, 34, were convicted of public indecency after a trial which heard from shocked neighbours who could not help but see them.
Freedom for Wallace
Dundee man William Wallace, 33, has clung onto his freedom after breaching a community payback order.
Wallace was spared prison despite failing to complete 120 hours of unpaid work, imposed in September 2020 for stealing from his then-partner.
Solicitor John Boyle told Dundee Sheriff Court working across the country had hampered groundworker Wallace, of Craiglea Place.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael added another 20 hours to the order and said another breach would likely lead to custody.
He said: “This was a very simple order which you have failed to do for a number of reasons.
“It’s not meant to be easy. You have to prioritise this order.”
Shamed ex-MP jailed
Shamed ex-MP Natalie McGarry has been jailed for two years after pocketing more than £24,600 from two pro-Scottish independence groups. McGarry, 41, from Fife, spent the money on rent, takeaways, grocery shopping and a holiday to Spain.
Drug-driver
Perth motorist Stephen Morrissey was caught while nearly 10 times the drug-drive limit near South Inch Terrace in May 2020.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lewis told Perth Sheriff Court officers saw him travelling at excessive speed.
“There was a smell of cannabis coming from his vehicle,” she said.
A roadside drug-wipe proved positive for cocaine.
Morrissey, of Osprey Drive, admitted driving with 12 mics of cocaine per litre of blood (above the permitted limit of 10) and 484mics of benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of the class A drug – the legal limit is 50.
If drugs are illegal, why are there legal limits for drug-driving?
Solicitor David Holmes said his client worked as a caterer but is currently unemployed and claiming benefits.
“At this time he was in a very difficult place.
“He accepts he was taking cocaine.
“This substance can stay in the bloodstream for a considerable length of time.”
Sheriff Euan Duthie disqualified Morrissey for a year and fined him £600.
Career over after assaults
A court heard former police sergeant Ross Campbell‘s 17-year career is over after he was sentenced for assaulting women in Dundee and Aberdeen. Campbell, 44, of Cove, had admitted sexually assaulting five females colleagues and was ordered to complete unpaid work instead. One of the assaults happened in the Counting House pub in Dundee.
Brick attack
Arbroath man William Smith, who was caught on CCTV striking a neighbour with a brick hurled through her window, has had more jail time imposed.
Smith, 36, appeared from custody at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit culpable and reckless conduct at St Mary’s Street in Arbroath on April 16 last year.
Smith, of Grange Place in Arbroath, is midway through a 30-month prison sentence from which he was to be liberated on November 16.
His solicitor Billy Rennie said: “This was a neighbour dispute which went way beyond what it ought to.”
His victim was unharmed.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown imposed a two month concurrent prison sentence.
Domestic abuse brute
Fife man Gary Hogg will be sentenced later for a “litany” of assaults on four ex-partners spanning nearly three decades. Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard one of his victims was pregnant and had to curl into a ball to protect her unborn baby as he battered her.
Balcony jump threat
A Kirkcaldy man terrified his partner by threatening to harm himself with a knife and jump off a balcony.
Steven McGrath, a 34-year-old labourer of Saunders Street, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Procurator fiscal depute Freya Anderson-Ward told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court McGrath and his partner had been arguing at an address in the town on May 21.
The fiscal depute said McGrath held the knife to his throat and said: “If police come here I will kill myself.”
Police were called.
He locked himself on his balcony and threatened to jump, prompting a three-hour siege before he returned inside.
Defence lawyer Alistair Burleigh said his client had problems with alcohol and had been assaulted several years ago, sustaining injuries which have changed his personality.
Sheriff Alison McKay sentenced him to 200 hours of unpaid work and gave him a four-month restriction of liberty order between 8pm and 6am every day.
He was placed under offender supervision for two years and a non-harassment order was made forbidding contact with his partner for a year.
Opened fire during siege
Armed police opened fire on Kinglassie man William Davidson, 46, because they believed was pointing a handgun at a neighbour during an all-day siege. He had earlier torched a pick-up truck in Mina Street and was waving around what later transpired to be an airgun. He admitted wilful fireraising and threatening behaviour.
Masked raider caught by DNA left on security camera at historic Perthshire estate
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
