COURT ROUND-UP: Serial rapist, Inverness conman, fraudster company boss and drugs operations thwarted among last month's court business
Inverness Sheriff Court saw a huge mix of criminal business in April.
Here's our recap of some of the cases that made the headlines this month.
Serial rapist Francis Sanderson (29), also known by surname Campbell, from Moray, was jailed for 15 years for attacking and abusing six females.
He carried out multiple rapes and sexual assaults over 13 years in the Moray, Easter Ross and the Inverness areas.
The High Court in Inverness heard how one victim was 14-years-old when she was raped by Sanderson in a public park.
A Muir of Ord pair admitted being concerned in the supply of drugs.
Police stopped a car on the A9 outside Inverness at Daviot and it led to the discovery of cocaine worth up to £10,500.
A registered blind woman was conned out of £9500 by an Inverness man who convinced her he would carry out work on two crofts but ultimately did very little.
Daniel Kay, of Longman Caravan Park, admitted carrying out the fraudulent scheme on the then 64-year-old Sutherland woman after being originally charged with inducing her to pay him £27,100.
But at Inverness Sheriff Court, the 33-year-old who has links to Easter Ross, pleaded guilty to obtaining the reduced amount.
Three men who dealt drugs separately from the same house for over a year were all caught following a police raid.
The former chairman and treasurer of a popular small Black Isle museum has admitted embezzling almost £19,000 from it over three years.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that 74-year-old William Bound faked invoices to conceal his dishonesty and banked the money in several accounts he had.
A building company boss who set fire to a residential development to try and claim £400,000 from his insurance company has been jailed for 13 months.
Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald told Michael Maggs (52), of Culbokie, that it was a serious offence "which was a calculated fraud, involving premeditation and planning".
"It was motivated by greed. You knew what you were doing."
A shopper was knocked unconscious and seriously injured following a violent altercation in an Inverness retail car park.
The man had been outside Iceland when he encountered Zen Etchells (28) on August 6 last year and there was an argument.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the man moved towards Etchells first, who backed off twice before returning to unleash a couple of punches to the victim’s head.
A sex offender who smuggled a knife into a court and tried to injure himself after he was imprisoned for 14 months had another 32 months added to his term.
Father-of-five Robin Parker, of Bridge Street, New Byth, Turriff had appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court on December 20, 2022 having been convicted after trial of sex offences in November that year.
But when Sheriff Sara Matheson jailed him for 14 months, he pulled out the knife, disguised as a plastic credit card, and shouted: "I am not going to prison."
A 17-year-old boy kicked another youth until he was unconscious and left him to walk back to a friend's house.
The teenager's victim suffered a traumatic brain injury from being repeatedly punched and kicked on the ground in an Inverness street on November 20, 2021.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the casualty spent 22 days in hospital – most of it in intensive care – as doctors battled to save his life.
An infant child had her femur broken by a spanner, wielded by an Inverness plumbing and heating engineer who was looking after her.
Today, 29-year-old Liam Cummings was jailed for three-and-a-half years after being found guilty last month by a jury of assaulting the toddler in the Autumn of 2017.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank told Cummings: "You chose to inflict pain and suffering on a vulnerable child you were supposed to be looking after."
A man was jailed today after police recovered £500,000 of cannabis following an investigation targeting the illicit drugs trade in the Highlands.
Undercover officers took part in a months long surveillance operation against targets suspected of involvement in illegal trafficking in controlled drugs in the Inverness area.
Serafin Gaik (30) was found guilty of being concerned in the supply of the Class B drug between August 26, 2020 and August 19, 2021, following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
A woman of travelling people origin was so upset by rogue parkers in her Black Isle community she scratched "gypsies" onto the outside of a caravan.
Virginia Quinn carried out the vandalism in the public car park outside Fortrose Academy on June 7, 2021.
An Inverness man who drove through a red light and knocked a schoolboy off his bike was fined £540 and banned from driving for a year.
John McConaghy, of Wester Inshes Drive, must also resit his test when the ban is up.
