A housebreaker who made off with hundreds of pounds worth of loot after raiding a rural Angus cottage four years ago must complete unpaid work.
Grzegors Niepsuj, 34, was aided in the dock at Forfar Sheriff Court by a Polish interpreter when he returned to be sentenced.
The father-of-one previously admitted breaking into the cottage near Arbirlot on April 9 2019.
He stole £300, a camera, a mobile phone and jewellery.
Niepsuj, of North Sea Court in Aberdeen, was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
Solicitor Keith Sym said his client had been open with social workers in telling them he was no stranger to the criminal justice system in his homeland.
Petrol pump pummeler imprisoned
MMA fighter Kevin Lobban, who ploughed a van into a petrol pump in Dundee, narrowly avoiding the forecourt attendant, has been jailed. Lobban, also admitted a string of charges of domestic abuse against his former partner.
Threats, drugs and resisting arrest
Joel Justice, 31, appeared from custody at Dundee Sheriff Court where he admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at Kandy Bar, Seagate, on March 29.
He was also found in possession of the class A drug cocaine.
He admitted resisting arrest when police tried to apprehend him, injuring one in doing so.
Justice, of Bellefield Avenue, was granted bail and had his sentence deferred for reports until April 27.
He was placed on a curfew banning him from being outside his house between 7pm and 7am.
Justice has previous convictions for racist abuse towards Muslims and Polish citizens, and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by spitting on police.
Crash teacher
A Dundee teacher “came to” in his overturned car almost four times over the limit after downing a case of beer on a boozy camping trip. Police found empty beer tins in Andrew Blaney‘s car when they arrived at the scene in rural Angus. The 52-year-old was disqualified for 16 months after admitting driving while unfit to do so.
Murderer’s 15th phone offence
A murderer caught with an unauthorised iPhone in HMP Perth had been found with illicit devices 14 times before.
James Bain is serving a life sentence after shooting former Scottish boxing champion Alexander McKinnon with a sawn-off shotgun in Edinburgh’s Marmion Bar in 2006.
In 2014, he became the criminal caught with a phone behind bars the most times when he racked up his seventh conviction.
He was not brought from the Edinburgh Road jail when his lawyer admitted his 15th and latest directly analogous offence on his behalf in Perth.
The court heard that on November 9 last year, Bain’s iPhone and a charging cable were discovered.
39-year-old Bain’s lawyer said: “There’s no excuse.
“He’s someone who has children he tries to make contact with.”
Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon imposed a six-month prison sentence, which will run concurrently with his ongoing jail term.
Facebook fight
Angus farm worker Richard Box arranged a fight with a rival on Facebook and was chased down by police after they saw him booting his 17-year-old rival to the head as he lay on the pavement. He must pay compensation for the Perth fracas.
Shovel trouble
A Dundee man has admitted acting in a threatening manner with a shovel.
John Stewart, 59, repeatedly shouted and swore at his upstairs neighbour and turned up at his door with a shovel, as the result of long-running dispute in the block of flats they share on Witson Street.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how officers attended the complainer’s property in the early hours of January 2, when Stewart again started banging on the door.
He was found in possession of the shovel.
The court heard Stewart “fully accepted” his actions had been over the top and he apologised.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis fined him £225.
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