A man who abused police officers by calling them “poofs” has admitted committing a homophobic breach of the peace.
Paul Lappin stood in the dock at Perth Sheriff Court and denied calling them “poofs” but admitted telling the officers they were “faggots.”
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson told the court: “At 8.50pm police attended in relation to another matter which is not before the court.
“The accused was upset that the police were attending and called the police constables ‘you poofs’.
“That is the extent of it.”
In the dock, a clearly agitated Lappin said: “I didn’t call them poofs. I called them faggots.”
Solicitor Billy Somerville, defending, said: “This is probably a case of the pot calling the kettle black here.”
Mr Somerville said Lappin had a history of substance misuse and had been involved in an ongoing feud with his neighbours.
Lappin, 35, from Perth, admitted shouting and swearing an making offensive homophobic remarks to police at his home on June 19.
Sheriff Gillian Wade admonished him.
Hit and run coward
Cowardly hit and run motorcyclist Stephen Bell knocked down a boy on a busy Dundee street before running away. The 36-year-old left his victim with a fractured eye socket and cheek bone and was caught after a witness turned Facebook sleuth to trace him.
Crime pays?
A fraudster who conned the benefits agency out of nearly £22,000 by posing as his dead father has been ordered to pay back £1.
Hassan Mirza was made the subject of a Proceeds of Crime action after duping the Department of Work and Pensions and Dundee City Council.
However, Dundee Sheriff Court was told the Crown had agreed to accept just £1 from Mirza to bring the action to an end.
Businessman Mirza, who had mounted up £30,000 debts before his criminality began, was jailed for eight months on Tuesday when he admitted two charges of fraud.
The 40-year-old shopkeeper posed as his 72-year-old father Abdul Majid Mirza – three years after the elderly man had died – to dupe the benefits agency and Dundee City Council out of almost £22,000.
Mirza initially claimed he had power of attorney for his father, used his details to fill out claims, and then pretended to be the dead man during phone calls.
Sheriff John Rafferty told him: “This was an offence that was deliberately and clearly planned by you.
“It was not the sort of case that the court sometimes hears, where a claim was properly made and then circumstances change.
“This was a fraudulent scheme from the outset.
“Taking that amount from public resources means that others who deserve it are unable to get what they should.”
Mirza, of Cowgate, Dundee, admitted that between March 6 2017 and June 13 2019 he obtained £19,429.36 by fraud from the Department of Work and Pensions and defrauded Dundee City Council of £2,535.68 in housing benefit between March 6 and October 15 2017.
The court was told the Crown and Mirza’s lawyers had agreed a joint minute confirming that he would be handing over £1 under Proceeds of Crime legislation.
Spycam pervert
A spycam pervert superimposed naked photos of himself onto pictures of local schoolchildren. Paedophile pensioner William Smith, 72, from near Forfar, was caught with a hidden stash of nearly 3,000 obscene images and videos.
Footballer on a high
A footballer scored a 29-minute hat-trick in a 14-0 win just hours after being arrested with a stash of cocaine and cannabis.
Ali Abboud was found with Class A drug cocaine worth £200 and £10 of cannabis during a raid on his Perth city centre flat on 8 August.
The following day the Jeanfield Swifts Amateurs striker scored in the first minute of a pre-season friendly against Ballinluig FC.
Abboud, 35, admitted two charges of drug possession when he appeared in the dock at Perth Sheriff Court.
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson told the court: “The police searched him and in the back pocket of his jeans were three snap bags which tested positive for cocaine.
“There was 2.4 grams of cocaine with a street value of £200 and cannabis worth £10.”
Sheriff Gillian Wade told Abboud: “I am concerned, given that it is a Class A drug.”
She deferred sentence for reports until next month.
