A Dundee benefits cheat has scammed the public purse out of more than £33,000.
Cheryl Strachan, 34, of the city’s Cleghorn Street, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit fraudulently obtaining £9,429 in income support and £22,688 child tax credit from the DWP between 2017 and 2020.
She knowingly failed to declare she was living with her partner, who was earning income through paid employment.
Fiscal depute Callum Gordon told the court Strachan, who receives Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment, did not alert the DWP to the fact she had moved in with her partner,.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown ordered reports and deferred sentencing until June 13.
She said: “Obviously, with the levels in question means that I have to consider a custodial sentence.”
Taxi driver devastation
A taxi driver can no longer drive after being left with a fractured skull and permanent double vision in a vicious attack in Dundee. Ozren Ljevar was kicked on the head and knocked unconscious by James Keith on Yeaman’s Lane
Shop terror
A man entered a Kirkcaldy shop and pulled an eight-inch blade from his trousers, causing terrified customers to flee.
The year before, Peter McCrossan was caught storing cocaine with a potential street value of more than £18,000.
He appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to plead guilty to being concerned in supply of the class A drug, behaving in a threatening or abusive manner causing fear or alarm, and resisting arrest.
Prosecutor Alistair McDermid told the court that on March 17 2022 police searched McCrossan’s home and found a bag of cocaine and a carrier bag containing scales and more of the drug.
The total weight of the cocaine was 223g, with a potential street value between £7,500 and £18,640.
On August 26 last year, witnesses in their homes looked out their windows to see McCrossan standing in his home street, Orkney Place, waving a large knife above his head, before entering a nearby Greens store.
The fiscal depute said: “He went to the crisp aisle and pulled a knife from the waistband of his trousers.
“The blade was approximately eight inches in length”.
Two police officers entered the shop as members of the public were “running away crying and screaming,” the fiscal said.
McCrossan gave up the knife but then resisted arrest and flailed his arms.
Defence lawyer Kerr Sneddon said McCrossan, 30, was told by others “higher up the food chain” to hold the drugs and had taken class A drugs himself prior to the other incident at the shop.
Mr Sneddon said McCrossan had been awake for three days and taken some Valium and “pretty much downed a bottle of vodka” in a final attempt to get to sleep.
He said his client has stopped drinking and taking drugs.
Sheriff James Williamson deferred sentence until June 10 to obtain background reports and McCrossan’s bail was continued.
Pet neglect
A callous Perth pet owner has been handed her second animal ban after welfare inspectors discovered neglected guinea pigs, hamsters and other small creatures kept in “horrific” conditions. Scottish SPCA officers rescued multiple animals from Donna Breen’s former home in the Methven countryside.
Random attack
A 17-year-old boy smashed a stranger in the face with a rock after he and a friend circled him with knives.
The boy, who can not be identified due to his age, left his victim with a permanent scar to his face after the attack at Goosecroft Road, Stirling, on January 27 this year.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard the teenager’s victim was walking to work at the time and does not understand why he was attacked.
The boy appeared by video link to prison to admit assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, while acting with another person.
Prosecutor James Moncrieff said the man had never met them before but they approached and shouted “are you the big man, are you?”
Threats were then made including reference to “cutting him and his mother up”.
Mr Moncrieff continued: “Both accused pulled knives from their trousers and circled round him”, before chasing him.
As Mr Gallagher turned to check how close behind they were, the boy struck him in the face with a rock.
The fiscal continued: “It caused him to fall to the ground and his face was completely covered in blood”.
He managed to get into a Travelodge nearby and staff stopped the pair’s pursuit.
The fiscal depute said he was left with a large, protruding scar between his eyebrows due to the depth of the cut.
Defence lawyer Virgil Crawford said the incident started as an argument between his friend and the complainer, in which he became involved.
Sheriff Derek Hamilton called for background reports to learn if the boy is likely to be a significant danger to the public and to consider an extended sentence and deferred sentencing until June 12 to obtain the reports, remanding the boy meantime.
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