Police searching for van driver who fled after being caught fly-tipping
Officers were patrolling the A7 near to Auchenrivock in Langholm around midnight on Wednesday when they discovered a large amount of fresh fly-tipping.
A van was also seen in suspicious circumstances before the driver abandoned the vehicle.
Police Scotland is urging anyone with information to contact 101 quoting refence CR/0327299/25.
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Police Scotland monitoring of Palestine protests revealed
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Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Heroin dealers fined just £499 as punishment for Scotland's mounting drug deaths
The Sunday Mail can reveal the shockingly lenient punishments being handed out despite 1065 fatalities last year - the highest of any European country. Heroin dealers are receiving average court fine of just £499 despite Scotland's drug deaths epidemic, we can reveal. The shockingly lenient punishments are being handed out despite 1065 fatalities last year - the highest of any European country. Meanwhile less than a third of those convicted of dealing offences receive a jail sentence according to official figures. Bereaved families along with politicians and campaigners have reacted furiously and demanded custodial sentences for dealers. Linda McVean, whose son Frankie died of an overdose, has demanded prison for heroin dealers while Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene branded the puny penalties 'pocket change'. Linda, 56, lost her son Frankie after he dabbling with the drugs while staying at a homeless hostel. She later bought illegal street valium herself to show how pushers were operating with impunity. Linda said: 'I will never get over Frankie's death, it will stay with me forever and it makes me sick to think these dealers are being allowed to sell these deadly drugs more or less openly. 'Drug addicts need to be treated with compassion but the dealers are selling death and misery and should face jail. 'If you walk through the city centre of Glasgow you can see deals being carried out in front of your eyes on street corners and it is unacceptable. 'This is an industry that makes millions of pounds for the people at the top - meanwhile thousands of users who end up hooked are dying. 'How do you possibly think that a fine of less than £500 is going to put anyone off, it is ridiculous, they can make that back in a day. 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'The people responsible for selling drugs need to take responsibility for their actions but that is never going to happen if they are more or less walking free from court even after a conviction.' Frankie, 30, died while staying at the Queens Park Hotel in Glasgow, where several lives have been claimed by drugs. He was not an addict when he entered the homeless accommodation but dabbled with pills believed to have been sold by low level dealers. His was one of a cluster of deaths at the hotel and Glasgow's Rennie Mackintosh Station Hotel. Liberal Democrat MSP Greene said: 'Communities are only too familiar with the damage that drug dealers can do to vulnerable people. 'Given the vast profits and immense misery that heroin can generate, it seems strange that the punishment is a monetary fine of a sum that major players in the drugs business will treat as pocket change. 'Not only that but the punishments for different drugs feel totally arbitrary. 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'This push and the language we have around decriminalisation, as taking a 'public health approach' and a 'compassionate approach', is rhetoric and posturing and it's a farce.' Ward, who says Scotland's focus on harm reduction measures like Glasgow's safe injecting facility has come at the expense of drugs rehabilitation and prevention, added: 'Perhaps a new government in 2026 will tackle this with more balance.' The Scottish Government has stated it wants drug possession to no longer be a criminal offence, although this would require Westminster to change the law. Drug dealing would continue to be a crime under its proposals. Convicted drug pushers can face jail, a community sentence or a financial penalty, or a combination under the Scottish justice system. Some 1489 Scots were successfully prosecuted for drugs possession with intent to supply as their main offence in 2022-23, the latest year for which data is available. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Data shows the rate of dealers being locked up has fallen from 54 per cent in 2013-14 to 29 per cent in the most recent year - or around 400 criminals. Around 800 of cases (54 per cent) end in a community sentence instead, up from 37 per cent a decade ago. And in more than 200 (17 per cent) of dealing cases - including for supplying dangerous Class A drugs like heroin - a fine is the main penalty. In recent weeks, we've highlighted the rise of synthetic opioids called nitazenes being cut into street heroin. One superstrong substance, dubbed 'pyro', has already been linked to dozens of heroin deaths this year. It's raised fears that after a slight improvement in the rate of deaths, Scotland's drugs epidemic - still the worst in Europe - could spiral again. Last week, one recovering drug user told how dealers get off 'scot free' even when a contaminated batch of heroin causes a spate of deaths. The dad in his 30s, from Glasgow, said: 'It's going completely under the radar. 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Daily Record
9 hours ago
- Daily Record
Woman discovers she is one of three wives before husband arrested
Tonya Betsey met Henry Betsey, Jr on Tinder, and the two were married in 2020. A woman turned sleuth and uncovered a devastating dual deception about her spouse - which eventually resulted in his detention. Tonya Betsey encountered Henry Betsey, Jr through Tinder, and the pair wed at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, US, on November 24, 2020. "Meeting on a dating site and the way he portrayed himself, he sold the perfect person, when in reality he was none of those things," she cautioned. Regrettably, it wasn't long before Tonya realised she wasn't the sole woman in Henry's existence. His betrayals emerged when she began investigating her husband's name through county court records, making the startling revelation that he possessed marriage certificates to two additional women. Henry had wed his second spouse Brandy two years following his ceremony with Tonya, in February 2022. Just months afterwards, a third woman, Michele, encountered Henry on the dating platform and they exchanged vows at a courthouse in Hernando County in November 2022, having known each other for merely three weeks, reports the Mirror. "I just started county by county, putting in his name. And that's when I came up with the marriage to Michele and the marriage to Brandy," Tonya revealed to WFTS. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Betsey Jr. hadn't obtained divorces or annulments before remarrying, and no database exists that cross-references Florida marriage licences between counties. The spouses collectively hold Florida accountable for failing to cross-check marriage certificates across different counties. Michele stated: "There are no safeguards, and I feel like that's part of where the system failed,". Tonya further remarked: "If the counties did talk, it would have saved me a lot of heartache, a lot of money, a lot of stress,". Betsey Jr. entered a guilty plea to the felony bigamy charge in May. During this week's sentencing proceedings, he expressed remorse for simultaneously wedding three women. "First and foremost, I want to apologise to the ladies and I want to apologise to the court administration and to my family and friends that had to be involved in this. Because ultimately this is something that I didn't wish to be part of," he said. Given Henry's clean criminal record - and with a separate Virginia case still pending - the judge outlined the legal constraints on the punishment he could deliver. Judge Charles B. Merritt, Jr. declared: "I'm going to adjudicate him guilty of the bigamy offense, which is gonna make him a convicted felon," and "I'm gonna sentence him to two years' probation with 8 days credit for time served. You're gonna have to do a mental health evaluation, complete a certified battery intervention program." Betsey's ex-wives and their relatives expressed disappointment that Henry avoided prison time - though they welcomed the chance to move on from the traumatic experience. "While I respect the court's decision and understand the reasoning behind the sentence, I can't say I was completely satisfied with the outcome. I had hoped for a stronger sentence," Tonya expressed in a statement. "That said, I recognise that the judge weighed all the factors involved, and I accept the decision, even if it wasn't what I had expected. "While it was not jail time, the fact that he is a convicted felon, that speaks mountains and I feel like that's vindication on our part," Michele added.
