A Dundee man who stole two electric toothbrushes did so to fund his addiction to crack cocaine, a court was told.
Andrew Gallagher, 37, admitted, through his solicitor, the theft from Lidl on Dura Street on May 5 this year.
Depute fiscal Lee Corr told Dundee Sheriff Court: “Witnesses were working the self-serve checkout of the store.
“The accused, who is known to them, entered the store.
“He was observed taking two boxes from the special display unit and putting them in a plastic bag he was carrying.”
He was stopped by staff as he tried to leave.
he had taken two electric toothbrushes, valued at £55.
Defence solicitor Ross Donnelly, in mitigation for Gallagher, said: “He is a man who has particularly struggled with drug misuse.
“He tells me that at the time he had become addicted to crack cocaine, which, even for such an officious drug user as Mr Gallagher, is difficult.”
Sheriff Robert More fined Gallagher, of Sandeman Place, £70.
Dog fighter jailed
Disgraced Angus gamekeeper Rhys Davies was jailed and banned from keeping animals for 15 years. He had admitted neglect charges after inadvertently exposing his par tin a dog-fighting ring. Read the full story here.
Covid spitter jailed
A prisoner who spat in a custody officer’s face as he was brought to Dunfermline Sheriff Court during last winter’s Covid wave has been jailed.
Christopher Syme, 44, a prisoner in Perth, also refused to leave a GeoAmey van and pulled down his trousers, repeatedly shouted and flailed his arms and legs.
Procurator fiscal depute Laura McManus said when two officers tied to remove him from the van cell, Syme began shouting and then spat directly into the face of an officer who was handcuffed to him.
He was reported to police and charged following his appearance in court for breaching a bail order.
He pled guilty to spitting on a GeoAmey officer’s face and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on November 22 2021.
Sheriff Charles Macnair said: “In November last year, spitting was a great aggravation of any assault because of the situation we were in.
“Spitting on the face of someone is always a very serious matter but is made even more so by the time we were in.”
Syme was jailed for nine months.
Oxygen tank crash
Drunken Abertay University student Stuart Aitken crashed his car into the main oxygen supply tank at Victoria Hospital at the terrifying conclusion of a police chase. He admitted driving dangerously and while more than three times over the limit. The court heard, luckily, the supply to the hospital was not affected.
Alleged crime ‘too stale’
A sheriff has thrown out a case against an alleged drug driver because it had become “too stale”.
Steven Pentland was due to stand trial at Perth Sheriff Court, accused of driving on the A912, near the M90 junction, with drugs in his system on April 6 2020.
The 37-year-old, of Hill of Beath, Fife, was charged with driving a van with 2.2 mics of THC or Delta-9- Tetrahydrocannabinol – the psychoactive substance that produces the high associated with cannabis – in his blood. The legal limit is two mics.
If drugs are illegal, why are there legal limits for drug-driving?
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson asked for the trial to be part-heard – started then finished at a later date – because of witness issues.
She told the court the case had already been deferred on several occasions.
Sheriff Euan Duthie deserted the case simpliciter, meaning it can only be revived following a successful appeal by prosecutors.
“This is just too stale of an offence now,” he said.
Mr Pentland thanked the sheriff as he left the dock.
Slaughterhouse stalker
A twisted stalker has been ordered to stay away from his ex-wife and her daughter for life after he made a series of chilling murder threats. Slaughterhouse worker James Christie bombarded his former partner with increasingly menacing emails and voicemails. He told her: “I would see you in a body bag”.
Lunch break challenge
An East Neuk man caught stealing booze from a Fife Co-op asked the employee who stopped him when his lunch break was so they could “sort it out”.
Michael Harvie appeared from custody at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to admit plundering £63 worth of alcohol from the Woodside Road Co-op supermarket and acting threateningly towards staff.
£47 worth of alcohol was recovered but when the 33-year-old was stopped on July 28, he challenged the employee to a fight.
Harvie, of High Street West in Anstruther, left briefly but returned to enquire when the employee’s lunch break was so they could “sort it out.”
Sheriff Ian Anderson released Harvie on bail and ordered reports ahead of sentencing on September 12.
He will be supervised until then and is banned from re-entering the Co-op.
Carnoustie assault
A Carnoustie woman ripped the hair extensions from her neighbour’s head in a row over Facebook comments. Caroline McIntyre, 46, assaulted the woman on their street in September 2020.
Abusive Arbroath joiner believed ‘white witch’ girlfriend had cursed him
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