A roofer attempted to con pensioners out of hundreds of pounds after claiming to have carried out work on their homes.
Edward McCallum attempted to defraud one 79-year-old out of £1,200 last May by claiming to be an employee of “Fife Water Board”.
On the same day he used aggressive trading practices against a 63-year-old by climbing onto a roof and loosening tiles.
The 31-year-old was also sentenced in relation to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, breaching bail, attempting to pervert the course of justice and three separate assaults on police officers.
The offences all took place in May 2022 at addresses in Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy.
His solicitor Kieran Clegg said McCallum had been hiding a drug addiction and the “patriarchal” nature of his community meant he had to act as a “strong man” for his family.
McCallum, of Thornhill Drive, Kirkcaldy, was jailed for 39 months.
Murder accused committed for trial
A teenager accused of murdering Perth man Cameron Rae has been fully committed for trial. Caleb Ferguson, 18, was remanded in custody following a second private appearance at Perth Sheriff Court.
Meat mistake
A drink-driver was caught after buying meat from a special constable working behind the counter at a Blairgowrie butcher shop.
Painter and decorator Steven Foley popped into the High Street outlet while more than five times the legal alcohol limit.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the 48-year-old, from Chirnside Place, Dundee, “appeared to be under the influence of alcohol” when he spoke to the special constable.
Fiscal depute Rebecca Kynaston said: “His speech was slurred, his eyes were glazed and he was unsteady on his feet.
“After leaving the shop, the accused went across the road and got into a blue Land Rover Freelander.
“He was observed to sit inside for about five minutes before exiting the vehicle and walking off.
“The accused returned a short time later with a box of whisky.
“He then switched on the engine and drove a short distance down the road before mounting a kerb and coming to a stop.”
Foley pled guilty to driving on High Street, Blairgowrie, with excess alcohol (109mics/ 22).
Solicitor Ian Houston said his client had been drinking with friends in the town earlier that day.
Foley was fined £850 and banned for 18 months.
Sheriff Reid told him: “It was fortuitous that the consequences here were not more serious.”
Covid ‘gratitude’
Perthshire nursing home carer Michelle Hayburn was only admonished despite breaking lockdown rules and assaulting a police officer in June 2020 because a sheriff wanted to recognise the “huge debt of gratitude the country owes people like you”. Her partner Thomas Kinnaird was fined £1,100 for the Covid breaches and behaving in a threatening manner.
Road rage
A 38-year-old telephone engineer drove carelessly after “losing his temper” with another driver who had a blade.
Kaan Polat, of Norton Place, Dunfermline pled guilty to driving a BMW car carelessly on the city’s Aberdour Road, swerving in front of a car and blocking the lane at two different roundabouts, as well as driving at excessive speed on May 4 2021.
The court heard there was an incident before this involving the driver of the other car, who fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf said is due to be sentenced for shouting and swearing at Polat while in possession of a knife.
Defence lawyer Ian Beatson said his client believes this may have started because he had pulled up too closely behind him at a roundabout.
“The driver started to act aggressively and was gesticulating towards Mr Polat in the vehicle and thereafter produced what Mr Polat believed to be a flick knife.”
Mr Beatson said as they went round the roundabout the other vehicle made “a number of emergency stops” and his client “lost his temper”.
Sheriff Charles Lugton fined Polat £540 and endorsed his driving licence with eight points.
The sheriff described it as a “very serious case” of careless driving but said he took into account a background of the accused and his wife having gone through a traumatic experience not long before.
Re-sentencing
A Montrose man who begged police to pepper spray him in a tense doorstep standoff must be sentenced again. Shaun Murray, 41, will also be sentenced for making threatening phone calls in November after reports have been prepared.
Police biter
Graham Lyons, 21, of Forest Crescent, Dundee, bit and spat at police and screamed “I don’t want to go to Bell Street” as he was being arrested.
He had flown into a rage at the home he shares with his parents in April last year and after police were called, he struggled officers, leaving one with a bite mark on his wrist.
Depute fiscal Lyne Mannion told Dundee Sheriff Court Lyons was in the garden when police arrived and told him to calm down as he continued to act aggressively.
She said: “As they moved to restrain him, they fell onto a sofa.
“Lyons struck PC Ben Grey before kicking him on the face.
“Officers called for assistance.”
Another officer, PC Fraser Healy, arrived and Lyons screamed “I don’t want to go to Bell Street”.
Ms Mannion said: “As PC Healy told Lyons to calm down, he bit him on the hand.
“Lyons then spat in PC Grey’s face and bit him on the wrist. PC Grey was left with a bite mark.”
Lyons will return to Dundee Sheriff Court for sentencing on May 16. His bail was continued.
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