A Fife welder found asleep in his car after a boozy night out in Blairgowrie has been banned from the road for two years and fined £900.
David Nelson, 23, drove to the Perthshire town for a party with friends and planned to stay overnight.
But after a fall-out, he opted to spend the night in his Vauxhall Corsa, parked in Glenshee Drive, Rattray but police received call about him dozing with the engine running.
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson told Perth Sheriff Court police removed the keys from the ignition and woke Nelson.
She said: “He had difficulty opening his eyes, difficulty speaking and when he was removed from the vehicle he was unsteady on his feet.”
Nelson, of Agricultural Cottages, St Michaels, admitted being in charge of the car in the early hours of September 3, 2020 while unfit through drink or drugs.
Solicitor Billy Somerville, defending, said: “He had no intention of driving.”
Winter break
A Dundee woman was given a festive curfew reprieve after admitting she ripped out a bar worker’s hair and broke a police constable’s glasses in a drunken rage. Kali Walsh, 22, was placed on a curfew but its hours of operation will be relaxed to allow her to work at Dundee Winterfest next month..
Cupboard of drugs
A dealer hid his cannabis cultivation in a cupboard blocked by a wall of furniture but when police raided Paul McIntosh‘s former home in Castle Street, Montrose on August 6 2020, they found thousands of pounds worth of drugs.
As well as two plants and drying stalks in the cupboard, they found 245.5 grammes of cannabis in snap bags elsewhere..
At Forfar Sheriff Court , fiscal depute Kate Scarborough said the maximum worth of the drugs was £2,400 but McIntosh’s solicitor James Caird said it was £1000 less and his client was using the drug every day and providing it to acquaintances.
Mr Caird said the 40-year-old admitted producing the drug and being concerned in its supply but was not running a commercial enterprise.
He added that McIntosh is now living in Brechin, has a job and is no longer using drugs.
Sheriff Derek Reekie ordered a restriction of liberty order assessment and deferred sentencing until December 8.
Football fanatic
A bus driver was caught watching football on his phone as he drove passengers through Fife but has been allowed to keep his licence so he would not lose his new job as a tyre fitter. Khyle Stewart, 24, was driving the Stagecoach X58 Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy service when a passenger spotted him watching the game on May 4 last year.
Facebook rants
A Perth man who sent a series of menacing Facebook messages to his ex-partner has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Robert Gardner, 55, fired off expletives and insults to his former girlfriend, including a disablist slur, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
He called her new boyfriend a “junkie” and asked if she had sold family items to buy drugs.
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson said the messages continued from January 18 to 27 this year.
Solicitor Linda Clark said there were personal reasons for becoming frustrated “but he now accepts he went about this in an appropriate manner”.
Gardner, of St Catherine’s Road, pled guilty to sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said he had “gone over the score” and imposed 60 hours of unpaid work.
Tractor crash death
Tractor driver Duncan Lamond has admitted causing the death of a woman on a rural road between Forfar and Arbroath by driving carelessly on July 28 last year. He crashed into a car and its back seat passenger was killed. Lamond will be sentenced next month.
Drugs seizure charges
Two men have appeared in court after more than £332,500 of drugs were seized in Lochgelly and Glasgow.
Police searched vehicles and properties in both areas this week and found cocaine, heroin, cannabis and a large quantity of tablets.
Paul Hardy, 29, of Glasgow, appeared in private at Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier this week to face four drugs supply charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
He made no plea and was committed for further examination and remanded in custody.
Liam Wyllie, 28, appeared in private at Dunfermline Sheriff Court to face one drugs supply allegation.
Wyllie, whose general address was given as Midlothian, made no plea and was committed for further examination and released on bail.
Hate speech
SNP “supporter” John Conquer called Broughty Ferry-based health secretary Humza Yousaf a “racist piece of s***” in an abusive email. Conquer, 65, from Kilmarnock sent the message to a constituency office in Glasgow on April 11 2020 after watching the politician give a speech about the Scottish Government’s hate crime bill.
Paedo breach
A paedophile who attacked a child in a Fife supermarket toilet is behind bars after breaching a court-imposed curfew.
Katie Dolatowski, 22, was placed on the tag on October 18 after failing to tell police of a move from Leeds back to The Kingdom.
It was a breach of a strict sex offender notification requirement to inform police of any new addresses.
Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith imposed a four-month curfew as an alternative to a custodial sentence.
But just two weeks later Dolatowski was back in the dock to admit breaching that curfew and this time was placed behind bars.
A four-month prison sentence was imposed in place of the curfew.
PC guilty
PC Kayleigh Simpson was admonished and had three points imposed on her driving licence after being found guilty of careless driving at the end of a lengthy trial. She had pursued a schoolboy – who she mistook for an on-the-run dangerous domestic abuser – and clipped his bike with her car.
