Teen found guilty of Elgin Poundland fire, BB gun incident scares Tesco shoppers and Moray dog walker racially abuses Polish men - Court this week
Our reporters have been busy covering a variety of cases this week.
Here’s our round-up of the most notable.
Teenager found guilty of starting Poundland fire
A 17-year-old college student started a devastating fire which destroyed the Poundland store in Elgin and caused around £1 million worth of damage.
The teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - had been on trial since Tuesday at Inverness Sheriff Court and was unanimously found guilty by a jury who took less than an hour to reach their verdict.
A special defence of incrimination had been lodged.
The trial heard that on August 12, 2022, he set fire to female products in an aisle of the store, which then spread to other goods including aerosol canisters.
The entire contents of the building were destroyed in the fire and nearby buildings were also damaged.
CCTV footage of the incident showed a man holding a lighter against the products in the High Street store, before walking away with friends.
Three members of staff were cashing up at the time of the fire and helped the last remaining customer, who was in a wheelchair, to safety.
Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald deferred sentence until March 10 for a background report to be prepared as required by law for convicted people under the age of 25.
Moray man scared Elgin Tesco shoppers with BB gun they believed to be real
A man from Elgin who scared shoppers in a car park of a major supermarket by brandishing a BB gun has been handed a two-year supervision order.
On October 29, 2023, police officers were called to an address in Elgin for a separate matter during the morning.
At the property they encountered Jhon Beaton. They found him to be in possession of an airsoft BB gun and advised him that he should not take it out of the house.
However, on the same day just before 10pm, the 20-year-old travelled to the Tesco supermarket on Blackfriars’ Road in the town.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that in the carpark to the store Beaton encouraged a shopper to wind down the window to their vehicle.
When they did so, he presented the BB gun “without warning” and stated to the two witnesses within the vehicle “look what I’ve got”.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov placed Beaton under two years supervision with a review in two months.
Elgin woman spat in police officer’s face
An Elgin woman who punched one police officer and spat in the face of another has been sentenced.
Latoyah McLeod appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday after previously admitting the two assaults. These were committed on July 22, 2023 on Baron Taylor's Street in Inverness.
The 24-year-old, whose address was given in court papers as Blane Place, Elgin, was ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work for the community.
She was also placed under the supervision of social workers for the next year.
Moray dog walker subjected Polish men to racist tirade in Lhanbryde
An offshore worker who subjected two Polish men to racist abuse while walking his dog has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that at around midnight on February 18, 2024, two Polish men were smoking on Burns Road in Lhanbryde while they waited for a taxi when village resident Grant Gardiner walked by with his dog.
The dog appeared friendly and the two men began to pet it and attempted some polite small talk with Gardiner.
But upon hearing the men’s accents he asked if they were Polish.
They confirmed this at which point the 38-year-old, whose address was given as Kirkland Hill, Lhanbryde, subjected them to a tirade of racist abuse telling the men that he “hated Polish people and foreigners” as they were “stealing all the jobs”.
Gardiner then attempted to square up to the men.
They retreated back into the property but outside they heard a loud banging noise which was later discovered to be Gardiner kicking and punching the garden fence outside.
Police cautioned and charged Gardiner after arriving and recovered a knife from his pocket after he intimated that he was in possession of one.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov ordered Gardiner to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay £100 in compensation to each of the men as well as £20 to cover the damage to the fence.
