Latest news with #Carloway
Press and Journal
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Press and Journal
EXCLUSIVE: Huntly's Angus Grant on overcoming serious injury and a personal tragedy to become north football's top scorer
Angus Grant will be crowned as north football's top scorer at Friday's Breedon Highland League awards ceremony. However, the Huntly striker's journey to this point is a story of perseverance which has seen him go from being on the brink of giving up the game to scoring 23 goals in the league this season and 31 in all competitions. Along the way Grant has also overcome a serious injury and personal tragedy. The 26-year-old revealed things could have been very different had it not been for a game-changing stint with Isle of Lewis outfit Carloway in the summer of 2016. He said: 'I was very close to giving football up when I was 17, I was signed to Cove Rangers under-20s and I was on loan to Newmachar United. 'I wasn't enjoying it, I was missing training and I was prioritising other things. It was at that time when I started going out with my now-fiancée Ashleigh and I was going to see her rather than going to training. 'But nine years later we've got two kids together so that paid off! However, at that time I didn't see football going anywhere for me. 'The love for the game wasn't there, but that summer playing for Carloway and doing well for them changed my outlook. 'If I hadn't done that and hadn't played well for them then I would have given up football. 'My mum Marj is from the Isle of Lewis so we've gone there every summer since I was born. When we visit we stay in the village of Breasclete, Carloway is 10 minutes away and is the local team to us. 'We used to go up for six weeks in the summer and the year before I went along to a training session and ended up playing two or three games. 'That was 10 years ago and then the following summer I went back and really kicked on. I finished up with quite a lot of goals and assists and we won the league and a cup. 'That spell with Carloway gave me a new lease of life and I came back with different thoughts on football.' Following that prolific summer scoring spell, Grant joined Turriff United and started to make his mark in the Highland League during the 2017-18 season. However, he eventually ended up leaving the Haughs to sign for Huntly in May 2021 after a wrangle about his contract during the Covid-19 pandemic and following the death of his younger brother Rory, aged 18, in March 2020. Grant added: 'At Turriff during Covid they wanted us to come to training but they said they couldn't afford to pay us. 'I know the club didn't have money coming in and I understood that. 'But I'm from Aberdeen so I was going to be travelling to Turriff a couple of times a week and I had quite a good deal at the time, which I didn't want to let go of. 'We did try to come to a compromise, but there wasn't really any budging. 'At the time, for me, after my brother Rory had passed away everything was up in the air. Given what had happened it was hard finding motivation to get out of bed and to go to work, never mind play football. 'Then Allan Hale became Huntly manager and he came in for me. It wasn't that long after my brother had died, it was during Covid and, with everything that had gone on, I wasn't too fussed about football or going to Huntly. 'So initially I said no, but then Allan tried again a few months later and at that point I was in a better place mentally so I listened to what Allan had to say and ended up signing for Huntly.' Grant also revealed that thoughts of Rory are never far away when he's on the football pitch. 'It was a sad time in our lives and it will always be a sad thing for us as a family,' he said. 'But I want to do well for my brother, to make him proud and do well for all my family. 'Rory liked football, he enjoyed playing and he came to a lot of my games, he and Ashleigh always wanted to come and watch. 'When we were in Lewis and I was playing for Carloway, Rory would come to every single game along with a couple of my cousins and when Ashleigh used to come up for a week or two she'd be there as well. 'Those are memories I'll always cherish. 'After every goal I've scored since Rory passed away the first thing I do is look up to the sky and dedicate the goal to him. 'He'll always be in my heart, particularly when it comes to football because he was always an avid supporter. Whenever I do well Rory always comes to mind.' Grant has also overcome adversity during his time at Huntly. In August 2021 he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament, which led to a lengthy spell on the sidelines. He said: 'I've said to a lot of people that the injury was a good thing to happen. Not in the sense of being out for as long as I was, but in terms of how it opened my eyes to a lot of things in terms of looking after my body and preparing for games properly. 'The injury took a couple of years out of my career, but what I've learned since in terms of looking after myself has probably added a few years onto my career. 'My mindset following the injury was not to dwell on it too much and to try to find positives from that negative and I think I've done that. 'When you have difficult experiences it definitely makes you enjoy the good things more. 'I suppose my story has been one of perseverance and not giving up. I've overcome a lot of things in my life and I think you end up being stronger for that.' Angus Grant believes his best is still to come – despite finishing as the Highland League's top scorer for 2024-25. The Huntly marksman's 23 league goals will see him receive the top scorer award at the Highland League's annual prize-giving dinner in Inverness on Friday. In all competitions Grant netted on 31 occasions, but missed the closing weeks of the campaign due to injury. The 26-year-old said: 'On a personal level I'm proud of what I achieved, it was a very good season overall. 'It maybe sounds stupid to say after finishing as top scorer this season, but I feel I've got a lot more in me. 'My hope is that my best is still to come. It was great to finish as top scorer, but I missed something like 12 games. 'The injury I got was a freak foot injury and it's something which hopefully won't happen again. 'So if I'm able to get a full season then I'd hope to hit 40 goals plus potentially.' Grant was also quick to pay tribute to those who have helped him enjoy the best season of his career. He added: 'I need to thank my team-mates. It's a team game and they've created the chances for me. 'A lot of it is down to them, if you've got players who can create chances, which we have, that's a big help as a striker. 'I'm also very lucky to have a great support network around me with my fiancée Ashleigh and my kids Noah and Aria. They've really pushed me to do the best I can, as have my dad Dek and my mum Marj. 'I'm really grateful to Gordon Carter (Huntly chairman) and all the people at the club who helped me get back from my knee injury. 'I'm also grateful to Colin Charlesworth, who since he has been the manager, has shown a lot of faith in me to play me regularly which has allowed me score goals.' Given Grant's form over the last year, it's no surprise there has been speculation about other clubs being interested in his services. But he insists that's not something he's thinking about and said: 'I'm still under contract at Huntly, I've really enjoyed my time at Huntly and I'm looking forward to the future with Huntly. 'I know there are rumours and whispers about things, but my only focus in terms of football is doing well with Huntly again in the new season. 'Football is a funny game and you never know what might happen, however, Huntly has been good for me and I'm happy here.'
BBC News
20-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Holocaust denier who fled to Scotland jailed in France
A French Holocaust denier who spent two years on the run in Scotland has been jailed for 12 Reynouard was arrested in Anstruther, in Fife, in November 2022 and handed over to French authorities last year after he lost a legal battle against his 56-year-old was wanted for inciting hatred and denying the occurrence of the Wednesday, he was jailed at the Paris Criminal Centre and also ordered to pay damages of €10,000 - more than £8,300. He was found guilty of denying war crimes, denying crimes against humanity, and incitement to racial hatred. The Holocaust was a period during World War Two when millions of Jewish people, and people from other backgrounds, were murdered because of who they denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990 and Reynouard has several was sentenced to four months in 2020 and six months in January was arrested by Police Scotland officers at an address in Anstruther on 10 November 2022. He was reported to have been living in the town, in the East Neuk of Fife, under a false name and working as an online tutor. 'Gross insult' In January last year, three judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh rejected Reynouard's appeal against his Justice General, Lord Carloway, said denial of the Holocaust was a "gross insult" to the members of the Jewish and other communities whose members perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi death said it was not necessary to be a member of the relevant communities to be "grossly offended by such statements".He described other statements Reynouard made about the Jewish community as "antisemitic racism".The judge said that although it was not an offence to hold such views or to express them in certain contexts, it was a breach of Communications Act legislation to communicate them to the public on the Carloway also said seven videos featuring Reynouard amounted to an offence of relative seriousness by Scottish standards. Denied massacre A French judge had issued a warrant for Reynouard's arrest in 2022 after he posted the videos was said he had trivialised a war crime, challenged the occurrence of crimes against humanity and incited the public to hatred or violence because of origin, nation, race or one video, Reynouard denied that the 1944 massacre by the Waffen SS, a Nazi military unit, at the French village of Oradour took place - where women and children were burnt also denied the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz and claimed the Holocaust was made up of multiple lies, errors or half suggested that the corpses found there were not victims of genocide but were hundreds of "cripples" who had not survived transport to the one video he described Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as "the most slandered man" and said he wanted to "rehabilitate" National for Reynouard argued that the videos did not threaten serious disturbance to the community and did not constitute a call to action and that to extradite him would be disproportionate.
BBC News
27-01-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Scotland's top judges voice fears over court delays
Scotland's top two judges have voiced serious concern about the future of the country's legal system as they prepare to head of the judiciary, the Lord President Lord Carloway, and the Lord Justice Clerk Lady Dorrian are both stepping down on 3 interviews ahead of their departure they backed justice reforms, including the abolition of Scotland's not proven they warned that a lack of criminal defence lawyers will add to delays in bringing cases to Carloway also claimed he felt he'd been left "high and dry" by Scotland's justice secretary and the country's top law officer over a proposal to hold juryless trials at the start of the pandemic in he rejected recent calls for a judge from outside Scotland to chair the public inquiry into the way police investigated the murder of Emma Caldwell in judges are retiring with a combined total of 45 years on the bench and said it is just coincidence that they are leaving their posts on the same wide-ranging interviews with the BBC they spoke freely about some of the main issues facing Scotland's justice system. Juryless trials during the Covid pandemic The 2020 lockdown left Scotland's courts facing the greatest challenge in their history, with jury trials halted because of social legislation from the Scottish government proposed that cases normally decided by a jury could be dealt with by a judge the time Lord Carloway said it would avoid "a monumental backlog" and delays stretching into years rather than months, but the proposal was dropped after an outcry led by opposition the use of cinemas as remote jury centres allowed jury trials to restart, the backlog caused by Covid has taken years to resolve and Lord Carloway said he believed his argument had been about the Scottish government's decision to ditch the proposal, he said: "I would hesitate to call it a mistake."I had meetings with the cabinet secretary for justice and the Lord Advocate and I thought we had all agreed that we would move on to this model and that we were all going to make a statement about that, which I then did, perhaps rather foolishly, because they then didn't. So I was left high and dry on that one."If we had used that model, there's no doubt that we would not have had the backlog that built up at that time, but I fully understand why the government decided not to go with it." Shortage of defence lawyers Five years on, the system faces unprecedented delays due to the backlog caused by Covid and an increase in prosecutions, particularly those involving sexual offences."As a result of that increase in volume, the time which it takes for a case to get to trial once it comes into court has essentially doubled," said Lord Carloway."We are, I think, coping pretty well with the cases that are coming in."Looking ahead, the two judges expressed concern that a growing shortage of criminal defence solicitors will cause further delays."I think it's a very big challenge," said Lady Dorrian. "There are particular issues with the shortage of defence agents and the lack of young people going into that part of the profession is a real worry."The Law Society of Scotland said the country faces "a legal aid crisis" with nearly one-third of practitioners set to retire within the next decade and "the very real possibility of a complete collapse of the system within 10 years."The Scottish government is expected to publish a paper on legal aid reform in the coming weeks and has committed to making changes within the next 18 months. Is corroboration a barrier to justice? In 2011, a review led by Lord Carloway recommended the abolition of corroboration, the rule which requires the essential facts of a case to be proved by evidence from at least two independent Scottish government put forward the proposal in legislation but dropped it after failing to win enough parliamentary Carloway said he still believed corroboration was a barrier to justice but said it was for parliament to decide its Dorrian added: "I think there's a strong argument that a formal requirement for corroboration, as opposed to a proper assessment of all the evidence available, is perhaps not the appropriate way of doing things in the modern world."The two judges were both involved in recent changes to the rules around corroboration, which could result in even more cases coming to court, although it's not yet clear how many. Not proven and majority verdicts There is cross-party support for the abolition of the not proven verdict, as proposed by the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill going through the Scottish Parliament and both judges agree its time is is one of three verdicts that can be returned in a criminal case in Scotland, alongside guilty and not is no specific definition of the not proven verdict, or the difference between it and not Dorrian said: "It's very difficult to justify a verdict that you can't explain to a jury."The bill also contains an important change to Scotland's rules on majority verdicts, after defence lawyers argued that getting rid of not proven would remove a safeguard against miscarriages of present, a simple majority is required for a guilty verdict; eight out of 15 Scottish government wants to change that to 10 out of 15. Prosecutors are worried that will make it harder to get Carloway said: "That's possible. We'll have to see what happens." Public inquiry into Emma Caldwell murder case Emma Caldwell's family and their lawyer Aamer Anwar say they've been told Lord Carloway has blocked their calls for a judge from outside Scotland to lead the public inquiry into the officers focused their attention on a group of Turkish men, despite detectives identifying Iain Packer as a sexually violent user of sex workers who had taken Emma to the woods where her body was found in April was eventually convicted of murdering Emma and sexual offences against a total of 22 women after standing trial last will now fall to Lord Carloway's successor as Lord President, Lord Pentland, to nominate the chair of the inquiry."It definitely should not be someone from outside Scotland, for two reasons," said Lord Carloway."Bringing someone from outside Scotland would be a direct attack on the independence of the Scottish judiciary."The second reason is they would spend half the inquiry trying to learn how the Scottish system operates."He added: "What you need is an expert who knows how the Scottish police and the Crown Office work in Scotland." Rape trials and sentencing for under 25s Lady Dorrian has been at the centre of two major controversies during her time as Lord Justice Clerk and chairwoman of the Scottish Sentencing chaired a working group which suggested a time-limited pilot of rape trials without juries, another proposal dropped by the Scottish government after opposition from defence lawyers and rival government is pressing ahead with the group's proposal for a sexual offences court which will use trauma informed practises to improve the court process for Dorrian said: "The reality is that judges sit alone to decide important cases all the time so there's nothing sacrosanct about a jury deciding cases.""I was disappointed but the mood music around the proposal for a pilot was detracting from those other important reforms and I can understand why the decision was made to shelve it for the moment at least and to focus on the other reforms and make sure they proceed."In 2022, the sentencing council introduced a new guideline which made rehabilitation rather than punishment a primary consideration when sentencing people aged under 25, based on scientific evidence that the brain is not fully developed below that policy came under scrutiny after a teenager was given community service for raping a 13-year-old girl, a conviction later overturned on Dorrian said judges have been required to take age into account for a long time."A shorter custodial sentence may be appropriate if there is real scope for the person to be reintegrated into society," she said."If there's not that prospect, then a very lengthy sentence may be the only route." Encouraging more women into judge jobs Lady Dorrian was the first woman to be appointed Lord Justice Clerk. At present, only nine of Scotland's 37 judges are female."It's a long slog, isn't it?" she said. "It has improved but there's still a lot of room for improvement."I think women need to be persuaded to apply and that's one of the issues."I remember reading that a man will apply for a job if they think they meet 60% of the criteria for the post, whereas a woman won't apply unless she feels she fulfils 100% of the criteria for the post.""I would encourage people to do it because it's a very interesting job." Justice recovery and renewal Asked about Lord Carloway's account of events in 2020, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said it wanted to thank him for his judicial leadership, including his response to the pandemic.A spokesman added: "His contribution has left an indelible mark which reaches beyond the legal establishment and into every corner of life in Scotland."The Scottish government said the proposal for juryless trials was included in Covid legislation, but was removed from the bill "following concerns raised during the legislation's progress through parliament".A spokesman added: "We continue to prioritise supporting justice partners to address the backlog, with £36.3m provided for justice recovery this year. "This builds on funding of over £145m since 2021 for recovery, renewal and transformation activity, including remote juries."
