Thursday court round-up — Dundee chase and ‘unimaginable’ videos

Two men have appeared in court accused of assaulting and injuring a 39-year-old man in Glenrothes.

Daniel McGraw, 33, and Patrick Kerr, 32, appeared in private at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court following an incident in Church Street, near Auchmuty Road, around 8pm on Tuesday.

Emergency services attended and a man was taken to hospital for treatment.

McGraw, whose address was given only as Fife, made no plea and was committed for further examination and remanded in custody.

Kerr, of Glenrothes, made no plea and was committed for further examination and granted bail.

Charity swindle

A Fife woman swindled £96,000 in her roles as treasurer of a children’s charity and business manager at a family-run coffee company. Beverley Bennie stole £12,771 from Kids Come First, which offers affordable wraparound care at the Benarty Centre in Ballingry, and pocketed £83,599 from Kirkcaldy-based Myrtle Coffee.

Dundee chase

A banned driver almost hit a dad pushing a pram during a chaotic, high-speed blitz through Dundee streets.

Paul Coombs sped through a red light, entered a roundabout in the wrong direction and almost caused a crash on May 21 this year.

Rampant offender Coombs was given his first chance at a community sentence in almost a decade after he admitted driving dangerously while disqualified.

Sheriff Gregor Murray laced him on a high-tariff structured deferred sentence and ordered him to return to court in January.

told the 28-year-old: “You get one chance and one chance only.

“Do not breach the trust I have put in you because I will come down on you like a ton of bricks.”

Coombs, of North George Street, previously admitted at Dundee Sheriff Court he failed to stop at a red light, repeatedly drove at speed and entered a roundabout in the opposite direction to traffic at speed.

This caused another road user to take evasive action in order to avoid a collision.

Coombs, driving a Vauxhall Astra, overtook a stationary vehicle in traffic, entered the opposing carriageway, drove at speed and through a crossing showing a green pedestrian light, resulting in a man having to pull back a pram containing his two-year-old child.

Solicitor Doug McConnell said Coombs now has a supportive partner who is pregnant with their child.

He said: “There needs to be a change in his attitude.

“The last time any community-based disposal was attempted was in 2016 when he was 20.

“Since then it’s been prison sentence after prison sentence after prison sentence.”

Trampoline push

A five-year-old girl suffered a broken collar bone after being pushed off a trampoline at a house in Perth. Jamie-Lee Ferguson, 24, was originally charged with assault but admitted an alternative charge of culpable and reckless conduct.

‘One-off’ deal

A drug-dealer was caught red-handed with hundreds of pounds worth of cannabis outside Perth Playhouse.

Michael Morrison was searched by police when they saw him involved in a “suspicious” interaction with another man at the Mill Street cinema.

Perth Sheriff Court heard seven bags of cannabis, worth up to £560, were found in his rucksack.

Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, said the “vast majority” were for personal use.

“However, he had agreed to pass some on to persons known to him. It seems to have been a one-off.”

Morrison, of Crieff Road, Perth, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis on September 7 2023 and was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work.

Screwdriver stab

A violent Carnoustie man has narrowly avoided jail after admitting a vicious boozy stamp and stab attack on an teenager. Brian Ash appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and pled guilty to the assault.

‘Unimaginable’ videos

Fife man Kieran Watson distributed “unimaginable” child abuse videos and is now behind bars.

He was caught with hundreds of sick pictures and videos on his phone and laptop, including of children engaging in sexual activity with adults and animals and sexualised cartoon-type portrayals of kids.

Watson, of Bethelfield Place, Kirkcaldy, pled guilty to taking or making indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children between December 29 2022 and January 4 this year and distributing indecent photos of children between May 28 and June 4 last year.

Prosecutor Sarah Smith told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court police searched Watson’s home on January 4 after receiving intelligence his email address had uploaded child sexual abuse material to the internet.

A mobile phone and laptop were recovered from his bedroom and and a total of 716 filthy files – 435 images and 281 videos – were found on the phone, the “vast majority” featuring female children aged 14 and under.

The run-time of the videos was nearly eight hours and hundreds of files were of the most graphic category A kind.

Ms Smith said 134 image 134 files depicted child characters – cartoon and computer-generated – engaging in sexual activity.

On the laptop, 30 files – including 18 category A images – were found to contain abuse material, featuring children aged between two and 12 and sexual activity between children and animals.

Watson had been using the Kik Messaging app and email to distribute child sexual abuse material.

Conversations recovered from Kik showed Watson initially requested indecent images before the sending back and forth of adult pornography and discussion about children.

Sheriff John MacRitchie said: “This is a situation where someone has been involved in actual distribution and in terms of sentencing, is classed as if you are actually selling these unimaginable videos to others using Kik Messenger system.”

He called for pre-sentencing reports and remanded Watson.

Cracked chat

A gangster from Dundee who used an encrypted chat app to deal with his Glaswegian drugs suppliers has been jailed for four years. Jonathan Wales, 37, relied on Encrochat to keep his involvement in the racket secret but was caught when Dutch and French law enforcement agencies cracked the network’s encryption.

Followed on drink-drive

A drink-driver was caught more than four times over the limit when police spotted him driving through Arbroath at 1.30am with no headlights on.

George Ritchie, 49, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit driving with excess alcohol (92 mics/22).

Ritchie, of Forbes Place in Friockheim, was followed along Burnside Drive, Guthrie Port and Kirkton Road on November 3 this year before being stopped.

He smelled of booze and slurred his speech.

At West Bell Street HQ, he told officers: “I really am sorry.”

Solicitor Nick Whelan explained the first offender’s job hangs in the balance following his conviction.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis fined Ritchie £1,040 and disqualified him for 15 months.

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