A repeat criminal caught breaking into businesses at industrial estates across Dundee has been sentenced to a curfew.
Over a three-week period last summer – while already serving a community payback order – Michael Pattie and an accomplice hit four firms.
- May 15, he forced his way into a shipping container at The Style Centre at Dryburgh industrial estate and stole a box of stationery worth £150, breaching curfew;
- June 2, he and an accomplice targeted Sappi Rockwell at West Gourdie industrial estate, stealing a £20 crowbar;
- June 2, both broke into agricultural outfit Grimme at Noble Road, leaving
empty-handed but causing £300 of damage; - June 8, he broke into ASP Pallets at Smeaton Road and stole three Bosch power saws and a Dewalt power drill, worth £610 altogether.
Pattie, 33, previously pled guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court and reports were ordered ahead of sentencing.
It was revealed how he was gripped by a cocaine addiction at the time and having been remanded since July 2024, has served the equivalent of a substantial prison term.
Pattie, of Americanmuir Road, must remain indoors between 7pm and 7am for six months and was placed on social work supervision for 18 months as an alternative to custody.
Thrown through air in crash
A 61-year-old coffin factory worker needed plastic surgery to his face after he was struck by a van at Perth Airport and thrown through the air. His head smashed off the windscreen of a silver Renault Trafic driven by Methven man Paul Wishart, who denied dangerous driving and was convicted of a lesser charge of driving carelessly.
Takeaway terror
A thug who kicked a “petrified” teenage boy to the ground and pretended to stab him has been jailed.
The panicked boy had entered Dervish takeaway at Anstruther’s marina to warn people inside John Carr had been ranting about a knife.
When he left the Turkish kebab shop, Carr charged and kicked him to the ground, before brandishing his weapon.
Fiscal depute Stephanie Paterson told Dundee Sheriff Court previously witnesses saw Carr shouting and swearing at a male at the takeaway doorway so began to film him.
“The witnesses heard the accused shout “come out,” “fat b*****d” and “I’m gonnae kill you, I’m gonnae stab someone.”
Carr kicked the boy in the stomach, knocking him to the ground, then choked him and waved the knife close to his head, pretending to stab him.
Solicitor Emily Simpson said Carr believed the “fat b*****d” in question was responsible for harassing his elderly neighbours.
She said: “A red mist descended on him, to use his words.”
Sheriff George Way jailed Carr – a previous offender – for 24 months and made him subject to a 10-month supervised release order.
He said: “He’s not defending his home. He’s on the prowl looking for someone.
“The idea that he can be wandering about like that beside a takeaway in Anstruther – it’s scarcely downtown Chicago.
“You might expect you would be relatively safe as a teenage boy, particularly if you are not causing any trouble.”
Endangered life
Charles Gardiner from Arbroath was convicted of a life-endangering stamp attack which left his victim in hospital for a week. He was spotted by neighbours subjecting his victim to a violent attack, which continued even after the man fell unconscious.
Vicious assaults
A man who “beat the living hell” out of his partner during a near-three-year domestic abuse campaign has been jailed for a year.
Jamie Preston, 26, punched and kicked the woman to the head and body – including when she was pregnant – and struck her with a wooden bed slat.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Preston pled guilty to engaging in a course of abusive behaviour against between May 1 2021 and January 31 last year at addresses in Burntisland, Dunfermline, Rosyth and elsewhere.
Prosecutor Catherine Stevenson told the court that in August 2021 Preston rowed with the woman over household chores and told her she “deserved to be hit and proceeded to punch her to the face”.
Court papers state he “repeatedly” kicked her stomach while she was pregnant and threw water in her face on another occasion.
The next month, Preston returned home from drinking and proposed with an engagement ring.
But he returned to the pub and later grabbed her wrist and tried to pull off the ring.
Physical and verbal abuse continued including, “kicking her, punching her and slapping her every couple of days”.
In May 2023 the woman reported Preston “assaulted her by beating the living hell out of her,” the fiscal said.
Ms Stevenson continued: “He had punched and kicked her, causing her to be unable to move her arm and also hurt her back”.
Between May 2021 and January 2024 he would consistently phone the woman if she did not respond to his messages and she told police Preston would look through her social media accounts and message her male friends to stay away from her.
Sheriff Wylie Robertson, who imposed a four-year non-harassment order, told Preston a social work report notes he lacks insight, self-awareness and responsibility and he is “in denial and minimising responsibility” for his behaviour.
He has previous convictions for domestically-aggravated offences.
Defence lawyer Sian Dolan said father-of-three Preston, of Glasgow, advised her he takes full responsibility for his behaviour and is aware he needs professional help.
The lawyer pointed out he was exposed to domestic abuse from a young age and was the victim of physical abuse and neglect.
Weeping robber jailed
An armed robber who burst into tears when he was recognised during a raid on a Perth newsagent has been jailed – having blown multiple chances to stay out of prison. Reece Lochrie held up a shopkeeper at knifepoint, demanding money from her till, then leaving in tears, with just a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, after the employee clocked him as a regular customer who lived across the street.
Firearms charge
A 33-year-old man has appeared in court accused of having an imitation firearm in public.
Daniel Copeland appeared in private at Dunfermline Sheriff Court to face the allegation under the Firearms Act 1968.
He is also said to have behaved in a threatening or abusive manner.
It comes after police received a report of a “disturbance” at an address in Henderson Street, Lochgelly, on Thursday morning.
Officers traced two men and a woman to an address in Burnside Place, Kelty and all three were charged.
There were no reports of injuries.
Copeland made no plea and was committed for further examination and granted bail.
A man and a woman have been released pending further enquiries.
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