A callous thief broke into a Perth hairdressing salon and made off with a charity box.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Sean Cuthbert, 39, forced his way into Mark’s on Perth High Street, a short distance from his home in New Row.
His solicitor Jamie Baxter said: “He was returning home late at night and saw the charity box on the counter.
“He smashed a pane of glass on the door to get inside.
“Mr Cuthbert tells me there was only £10 inside the box.”
Sheriff Alison McKay said: “There was no thought that this money was for charity and not for him.
“There was no thought about the damage caused to the owner’s business.”
She deferred sentence for a drug treatment and testing order assessment.
Rebel with a pause
An aspiring rapper who threatened to stab police has been allowed a break from his court-imposed curfew so he can go on a UK tour with his hip-hop group.
Caleb Gorman, who raps as NK.SCO, clashed with cops when they turned up at his front door in Perth.
He repeatedly threatened to stab them and at one point bragged about having an attempted murder case dropped.
The 27-year-old later attacked an officer at Dundee’s custody suite.
When he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court, Gorman was handed a Restriction of Liberty Order.
Plane daft
A Broughty Ferry man who moved a car a quarter of a mile after two pints at the airport was caught drink-driving.
Daniel McMullan, 37, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court and was fined and banned.
Fiscal depute Kate Scarborough explained police stopped McMullan after he had driven along Brook Street, St Vincent Street and King Street in Broughty Ferry on November 20 last year and he returned a positive breath specimen (27mics/ 22).
His solicitor explained that three hours earlier, he had flown home from Belfast and had had two pints while at the Northern Irish airport.
He said McMullan, of Blackness Avenue in Dundee, only moved the car quarter of a mile to allow a blocked-in elderly woman to move her vehicle.
Sheriff John Rafferty fined McMullan £720 plus a £40 victim surcharge and imposed a year-long driving ban.
Fife murderer loses appeal bid
Fife murderer David Barnes has lost his bid to have his prison sentence slashed.
The 34-year-old was last year convicted of killing army veteran Ean Coutts, 60, before hiding his body at a Glenrothes industrial estate.
Mr Coutts’ skeletal remains were found a year late by a group of urban explorers.
Barnes was caged for life and told he must serve a minimum 23 years.
Lawyers for Barnes argued that the trial judge should have given him a lesser sentence, because the exact method of murder was never established.
In their written findings, appeal court judges have dismissed the appeal.
Drink-drive scientist
A Fife scientist was six times the legal drink-drive limit when she got behind the wheel.
Jennifer Bishop, 50, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to driving a car with excess alcohol (136mics/ 22) in Aberdour on April 15 this year.
Prosecutor Lauren Pennycook told the court concerned members of the public called police about the way the car was being driven.
When officers arrived, they found the vehicle with some damage and carried out standard drink-drive procedures.
Defence lawyer Paul Donnachie said Bishop, of Main Street, Aberdour – who works for the NHS as a scientist – was experiencing some difficulties in her life and was drinking too much.
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson sentenced her to 200 hours of unpaid work and banned her from driving for two years.
Piperdam embezzler
The former maintenance manager of the popular Piperdam golf resort has admitted embezzling £5,000.
Christopher Anderson appeared in court to admit the amended embezzlement charge.
Anderson, who has offended before, used company funds to purchase horticulture items, clothing, tools and household goods.
His offending at the Angus resort took place over a three-month period.
He will be sentenced in July when background reports have been prepared.
Teenage robbery
A 16-year-old boy has admitted assaulting and robbing a man in a lane between Morrisons and B&M in St Catherine’s retail park, Perth.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at the city’s sheriff court and pled guilty to the offence on March 20 last year.
The youngster assaulted his victim, seized him by the clothes and demanded he empty his pockets before robbing him of his mobile phone.
Sheriff Alison McKay deferred sentence until July 3 for input from the children’s panel.
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