INVERNESS SHERIFF COURT ROUND-UP: Sex offenders and dangerous driving among last month's court business
Inverness Sheriff Court saw a huge mix of criminal business in March.
Here's our recap of some of the cases that made the headlines last month.
A 55-year-old man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the domestic and sexual abuse of two women.
Robert Mackinnon Stirling was sentenced at the High Court in Inverness.
An Inverness American football club is assuring parents and young athletes it “remains a safe place” after its former head coach was found guilty of sex offences against teenage boys.
Robert Paulin of Canal Road, Inverness, paid the youngsters to pose for naked photos and videos under the pretence of making a sex education film.
A sheriff "performed a difficult balancing act" when he opted to protect the public by sentencing a 17-year-old boy to a maximum of 15 months in a secure unit for endangering police officers' lives by driving a car towards them at the start of a 55-mile long course of dangerous driving.
The youth who had been drinking then drove off at speed at the start of a 30-hour long cat and mouse hunt for the Aberdeen teenager which began in Inverness and ended in Keith.
• READ MORE: Inverness dangerous driving puts police officers at risk
A man who sexually assaulted a child in an Inverness supermarket has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for three years.
Cody Grassick (18) touched the young girl inappropriately while she was looking at Christmas jumpers at Tesco Inshes on November 30, 2023.
A sex pest was told by a sheriff watching pornography was giving him "a warped view" of relationships between men and women.
Codey Masson targeted five teenage women and an underage girl over a four-year period and demanded nude photos and sent explicit images to them uninvited.
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An Inverness rapist who faked his own death to avoid justice and was later jailed for 15 years has had two months added to his sentence.
Kim Avis, who was a market trader in the Highland capital, was sentenced to the additional two months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week after being convicted of having a personal communication device on him in prison.
A former Inverness church relief organist who was twice jailed for possessing vast amounts of indecent images and videos of children being abused or in sexual poses has admitted having similar photos displayed on a shelf in his bedroom.
Iain McIntyre (52), of Nelson Street, Inverness but who formerly stayed in Tain's Mansfield Estate, appeared before Sheriff Sara Matheson and pleaded guilty to possessing a total of 15 printed photos on January 10 last year.
A man who was on a work-do and celebrating the birth of his baby ended his night out by getting arrested.
Lee Macleod (34) shouted and swore at his taxi driver on the way home from the Kingsmills Hotel before kicking the vehicle.
• READ MORE: Inverness man who went out to celebrate birth of new baby ended night getting arrested
A sheriff decided against jailing a drug user who told police he carried knives for "my own protection" and placed him under one year of social work supervision to "support him on his release from remand".
Joshua Sykes, of Springfield Gardens, Inverness was stopped in the city twice by officers in June and September last year and on both occasions he was carrying a weapon.
• READ MORE: Inverness man with ‘drugs debts’ carried knives for ‘own protection’
A Highland man told Inverness police officers that they would be getting ‘a cartel death’ after they arrested him for kicking-off at the Coop.
Malcolm Watson (38) shouted and swore at security workers and staff inside the Church Street shop before he was ushered out by an off-duty security staff member on December 29, 2023.
• READ MORE: Highland man told Inverness police officers that they would be getting ‘a cartel death’
A MAN stole and sold his stepmother’s jewellery to fund his drink and drugs habit.
Ben Jackson (39) stole various items from the Inverness address of his father and stepmother between September 1 and October 8, 2020, after moving in with them during the Covid lockdown.
A 34-year-old Inverness man who lived "an isolated existence" downloaded and viewed photographs and videos of an indecent nature involving children has had severe restrictions placed on his use of the internet and enabled devices.
Philip Bruce, of Kenneth Place, was appearing for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after sentence had previously been deferred for a background report and a re-education and rehabilitation programme assessment.
• READ MORE: Inverness man had dozens indecent images of young girls
A drink-driver who agreed to give a woman a lift home sped off from police at 128mph after they tried to stop him on the A96 for driving his Mercedes at excessive speed.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that officers later tracked down 32-year-old Sam Hutcheon, of Royal Marine Apartments, Nairn to a field outside the town after he crashed into it through bushes and extensively damaged his vehicle.
• READ MORE: A96 drink-driver smashed up Mercedes in Nairn field after hitting 128mph to evade police
A driver is to stand trial charged with killing a motorcyclist in a crash.
Matthias Hunecke is accused of colliding with Michael Gall (51), on the A82 near Invermoriston on July 19, 2022.
• READ MORE: A82 driver accused of killing 'legend' Inverness motorcyclist.
A van driver who was three times the drink-drive limit collided with a motorcyclist.
Richard Matheson (41) hit the motorcyclist after pulling out of a junction on St Margaret’s Way, Inverness on July 28 last year.
