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Inverness Sheriff and High Court round-up: Drug traffickers sentenced over £600k cannabis haul; and paedophile snared by sting





The Inverness Justice Centre. Picture: Gary Anthony.
The Inverness Justice Centre. Picture: Gary Anthony.

It was another busy week at the courts in Inverness, with cases ranging from major drugs smuggling sentences, to drink-driving…


Drug traffickers thwarted by UK Border Force officers at Glasgow Airport and sentenced at High Court in Inverness

Two drug traffickers who tried to smuggle cannabis with a street value of almost £600,000 into Scotland on a flight from Canada have been jailed at Inverness for a total of five years and six months.

Jamaal Darbasie (27) and George Manton (19) were stopped by UK Border Force officers when they arrived at Glasgow Airport from Toronto on March 10 last year.

Each man was carrying two suitcases which were later found to contain cannabis hidden They were sentenced at the High Court in Inverness after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.

Darbasie was jailed for three years while Manton will spend 30 months behind bars.

Read more here.


Paedophile (26) snared by undercover police officer as he thought he was speaking to girl under 13

A Drumnadrochit man thought he was asking a child for sexually intimate pictures when he was actually talking to a police officer.

Scott Waddell (29) spoke to “Izzie”, in reality an undercover officer, between August 29 and September 20, 2023 while staying at Comar Gardens, Beauly.

During this time Waddell repeatedly sent messages asking Izzie - who he believed to be under the age of 13 - to take intimate images of herself.

Waddell pleaded guilty to intentionally attempting to communicate indecently with a child. He will be sentenced in July.

Read more here.


Romanian tourist visiting Inverness from France had drugs and cash in vehicle’s ‘hidden compartment’

A Romanian drug dealer will return overseas after he is released from a seven-month prison sentence imposed at Inverness Sheriff Court.

Gheorghe Mois (33), of no fixed abode, appeared by video link before Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald after previously admitting possessing 11g of cocaine with a street value of around £1100 in Kessock Road on April 8.

Fiscal depute Sophie Marshall told the court that police stopped his vehicle and saw signs of drug misuse and there was a strong smell of cannabis.

Read more here.


Inverness man in court over Dingwall fire

A 23 year old man has appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court in connection with a fire in Dingwall on Sunday morning which closed the High Street for around five hours.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was called to the scene in the town around 6.15am and the road later reopened around 11am in the morning.

Read more here.


A9 drink-driver caught after police spotted him near Milton of Leys, Inverness

A company director was caught drink-driving for a second time - 15 years after he was dealt with for a similar offence when he didn't have a licence.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that 31-year-old scaffolding boss Daniel Wemyss, of Ashwood Grove, Inverness was stopped by police who were concerned about the manner of his driving on the A9 near Milton of Leys on the evening of December 13 last year.

Read more here.


View our fact sheet on court reporting here




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