Never let it be said our Crime and Courts Team aren’t a busy bunch….
Speed and cannabis
A Fife man was pursued by police through the East Neuk of Fife and eventually caught with cannabis.
He narrowly missed their squad car.
The 21-year-old accelerated away, speeding into Crail above the 30mph limit.
Hutchison was behind the wheel of a friend’s car and although he claimed at the time he had taken out an insurance policy for that day, police later found no evidence of this.
Officers chased the former Edinburgh Airport baggage handler through the seaside village, initially losing sight of him but later tracking the vehicle to Castle Street, where it had hit a tree.
Police were told by a resident Hutchison had darted into a garden.
Hutchison, of St Monan’s, was apprehended and found to be in possession of a quantity of cannabis which was initially valued at £1,250.
He pled guilty to driving carelessly by failing to give way at a junction, driving into the path of a police vehicle and causing an officer to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
He also admitted driving while uninsured.
Hutchison’s defence solicitor Lee Qumsieh said the drugs were of “little value, if any.”
At Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Sheriff Alison Michie fined Hutchison £200 for careless driving, £100 for driving without insurance and £100 for possession of cannabis, along with a £20 victim surcharge.
He was also given six penalty points on his driving licence, leaving him three short of an automatic ban.
Fake workman preyed on elderly
A bogus workman who preyed on elderly people in Fife is behind bars.
William Stewart targeted vulnerable OAPs in their seventies and eighties.
He ripped them off for thousands of pounds at the end of last year for work he never intended to carry out.
Stewart would then go back to his victims to try to get more money out of them.
The con man even took one old lady to her bank but quickly left when a teller became suspicious.
Stewart, 26, of Queen Street, Freuchie, admitted the offences at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
He admitted that between between September 7 and 10 at Achtray Park, Glenrothes, he pretended to a 79-year-old man he was a landscape gardener and would carry out work, which he failed to complete and obtained £800 by fraud.
Between 1st and 2nd October at Cumbrae Terrace, Kirkcaldy, he pretended to a man aged 89 that he would carry out garden work and obtained £450 by fraud.
Between October 5 and 8 at Katrine Crescent, Kirkcaldy, he pretended to an 84-year-old woman he would do roofing work and obtained £1220 by fraud.
Between November 23 and 26 at Church Street, Freuchie, he pretended to a 75-year-old woman he would do roofing work and obtained £600 by fraud.
Defence solicitor Joanne Ritchie said: “He had fallen in with a bad crowd and was using cocaine.
“His own family members were disgusted when they found what he had been doing.”
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist called for reports and Stewart was remanded in custody until sentencing on May 13.
Playpark torched
A man has appeared in court accused of torching an Angus playpark.
Andrew Delaney, 31, allegedly set fire to the playpark at Springfield Park, Ponderlaw Street, Arbroath, on September 15.
Delaney, of the town’s Andrew Barton Street, appeared from custody at Dundee Sheriff Court.
It is alleged he wilfully set fire to playpark equipment, whereby the fire took effect and caused damage.
Solicitor Gary McIlravey offered no plea on Delaney’s behalf.
The case was continued for further examination by Sheriff Kevin Veal who released Delaney on bail.
Also…
Dundee teenager Xander Baird battered an older man in Dundee city centre over what he deemed a “creepy” relationship with another teenager.
Perth convict Shaun Dunn staged a “pre-emptive attack” on a “prison bully” by pouring a boiling water and sugar mixture over him.
Kelty woman Anne Marie Fowler, previously convicted of smashing up a kebab shop, went on to launch a vicious Christmas Day attack on another woman, knocking her out with a fence post.
An ex-sniper carried out a terrifying robbery in Fife. Garry Roughley bound and gagged his pensioner victim and raided her Crossford home, before going on the run.
And if you missed them earlier, here’s some highlights from earlier in the week…
Gangster Granny: The rise and fall of Dundee’s most unlikely drugs baron
