A Fife drug dealer palmed off punters with bicarbonate of soda alongside real cocaine.
When officers raided Daniel Hanley’s home and the address of a family member they found 46g of the class A drug and almost five times that amount of the common baking ingredient.
The powder – normally used as a raising agent in cakes and biscuits – was “compressed to resemble cocaine.”
Hanley, 31, from Leslie, pled guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to being concerned in the supply of drugs and possession of a stun gun.
Sheriff Robert More warned Hanley he was “on the cusp” of a prison sentence but ordered him to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and placed him on an 18-month supervision order instead
In relation to the stun gun, he was placed on a 75-day curfew.
Blamed dad for drug stash
A Dundee man who stashed more than £27,000 worth of street Valium in a cupboard at his mother’s home said the massive haul belonged to his late father. Michael Torano was found guilty of being concerned in the supply of Etizolam.
‘Welcome to the criminal courts’
A teenager who challenged police to a fight outside a Perth nightspot was given an ominous “welcome” to his local sheriff court.
Perth Sheriff Court heard painter and decorator Luke McLaren, 18, came to the attention of officers when he spilled out of the Loft venue in the city’s South Street on April 2 and appeared to be “antagonising” door staff.
He admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, shouting, swearing and uttering threats of violence.
Fiscal depute Sam Craibb said McLaren was told the leave the area, which he did but he returned a short time later and “squared up to the police constables.”
McLaren told them: “What are you going to do about it? I can take all of you.”
He added: “When I see you off-duty, you’re f***ed.”
The prosecutor said: “The accused pointed his finger at one officer in an aggressive manner.”
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, defending, said McLaren had never been in trouble with the law before.
“He had clearly taken too much alcohol this evening.
“He has no recollection of the incident.”
Sheriff Mungo Bovey told McLaren: “Welcome to the criminal courts.
“If you continue drinking like this it won’t be your first visit and we will always be here for you.”
The sheriff said the offence merited a “substantial financial penalty.”
McLaren, of Gellyburn Road, Almondbank, was fined £667.
Camping kit for sick meeting
Dundee pervert Duncan McLaren, 45, arrived with a tent, condoms and sex toys to meet a “schoolgirl” he was grooming. He was actually messaging a decoy paedophile hunter and was confronted by a group at their arranged meeting at a city supermarket.
‘Sudden dislike’
A man left his drinking buddy with cuts on his face after a sustained early morning attack at an Angus caravan park.
Colin Johnstone, 57, of Goosecroft in Forfar, assaulted Bruce Cowie at Tayock Caravan Park near Montrose on October 2 last year.
The pair were drinking with another male, fiscal depute Andrew Harding told Forfar Justice of the Peace Court.
“All three males became very intoxicated and the accused, as well as the other male, fell asleep at the locus.
“They woke at about 3.45am.
“The accused took a sudden dislike to witness Cowie.”
Johnstone repeatedly punched Mr Cowie on the face until he was able to push him away and flee.
Johnstone was not present when his plea of guilty to assault at the Omar Avenue mobile home was accepted.
Justice of the Peace Joan Hall said: “I think given the nature of this and the limited explanation, I would call for personal appearance.”
‘Raging bull’ charge
A woman who assaulted a pensioner, leaving her unconscious and too scared to leave her home for a year, has narrowly avoided a prison sentence. An earlier trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard Aimee Lee ran at Mary Anderson “like a raging bull” before pushing her to the ground in Cowdenbeath’s Johnston Park in July 2021.
Four-times limit
A drink-driver who crashed a van into a roundabout after driving dangerously along a busy Dunfermline road has been served a lengthy ban.
Alan Healy, 25, was four times the legal limit as he drove along Queensferry Road at excessive speeds, weaved between traffic, braked harshly and overtook a vehicle on the inside lane, prior to the collision on March 18.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard multiple drivers witnessed the erratic driving, which started where Primrose Lane in Rosyth meets the B980 road and ended at a roundabout near Grange Drive and Laburnum Road.
Procurator fiscal depute Andrew Brown said Healy’s behaviour was described as “strange” when police arrived.
Healy, of Rosyth’s Boyle Drive, admitted charges driving with excess alcohol (87mics/ 22) and dangerous driving.
Sheriff Susan Duff told Healy he came “painfully close” to getting a custodial sentence but instead banned him from driving for three years, told him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, and placed him on a six-month curfew order.
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