Latest news with #HMPPerth
The Courier
26-05-2025
- The Courier
Cats alerted Dundee householder to late-night break-in
A rampant criminal was caught red-handed during a Dundee break-in after the householders' cats began acting strangely. John Harris fled after being confronted by a woman who screamed when she found the crook in her living room. The 56-year-old was caught after being hunted by her partner and police officers. Harris – who was been breaking into properties for 40 years – is now facing a further stint in prison after admitting the offence at Dundee Sheriff Court. It was revealed the couple had locked all doors and windows before going to bed, with the woman still awake at around 1.30am. 'She noticed her cats acting strange and spooked by something,' prosecutor Stephanie Paterson told the court. 'A short time later, she heard a loud bang as if a door had just been slammed. 'She went downstairs to check the noise and noticed the living room light was on. 'Upon walking in, she saw the accused standing directly in front of her.' The fiscal depute said the woman 'began to scream loudly' in a panic, which prompted a bloodied Harris to flee out of the kitchen and into a neighbour's garden. Her partner raced downstairs to assist and tried to trace his stolen iPhone with an app. Harris was arrested at around 2am a short distance away, where he was found with the phone, a bank card, driving licence and alcohol. Police noted the kitchen window had been forced open, with blood visible. HMP Perth prisoner Harris pled guilty to breaking into a property in the Douglas area on May 4 this year. Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith deferred sentence until next month for a social work report to be prepared.
The Courier
22-05-2025
- The Courier
Kinross-shire landscaper tried to swindle Alzheimer's patient out of £4,500 in blank cheque scam
A Kinross-shire workman tried to scam an elderly Alzheimer's patient out of £4,500 in a swiftly-rumbled cheque scam. Landscaper Mark McPhee took a blank cheque he had been given to buy materials but instead tried to cash the four-figure sum at a bank. The boozed-up crook wasn't given a penny and his victim was promptly notified of his callous attempt. He appeared at Perth Sheriff Court via a video link from HMP Perth and was sentenced to a community payback order. McPhee, 34, of St Serf's Place in Crook of Devon, previously pled guilty to committing the forgery offence on February 6 last year, while he was on bail. He uttered as genuine a cheque on which the name had been forged and tendered it to Bank of Scotland hoping to receive £4,500. Fiscal depute Andrew Harding said: 'The complainer in this matter is elderly, suffering early onset Alzheimer's. 'On February 7 2024, a friend of the complainer noticed that the complainer's handbag was not where it normally would be. 'It was found that three cheques were missing from the complainer's cheque book. 'On February 8, the complainer received a letter advising that one of these cheques had been attempted to be cashed, to the value of £4,500. 'The cheque was written payable to Mark McPhee.' Solicitor Alan Davie said: 'Mr McPhee advises that he had previously carried out work for the complainer. 'He had been at her address about a job and that he was provided with the blank chequebook by the complainer. 'He tells me it was his intention to purchase materials. 'Later in the day, he unfortunately consumed a quantity of alcohol – he's someone who has a significant alcohol dependency. 'He made the decision to fill out the cheque and try to pay that to himself. It's clearly not a very sophisticated fraud. 'It's fortunate that the bank were alert to this and he was unable to obtain any funds as a consequence. 'It's a breach of trust. Had he been sober, he wouldn't have acted in that way. 'Clearly alcohol is a feature in him making that terrible decision. 'He can only apologise for his conduct there and very much regrets that, he recognises that custody will be an option.' Mr Davie labelled the offence 'serious' and explained his client has been on remand since April 30. Sheriff Clair McLachlan placed McPhee under supervision for 18 months and ordered him to complete 250 hours of unpaid work in the next year. The sentence, imposed as a direct alternative to custody, also includes an alcohol treatment requirement. She said: 'I think you've recognised that this was a breach of trust involving a vulnerable adult.' McPhee was also sentenced for four other offences. He was admonished for three bail breaches and placed on a three-month 7pm to 7am curfew for acting in a threatening or abusive manner. On December 10 in 2023, he arrived at his partner's home in Saline at 1.50am uninvited, repeatedly struck the door demanding entry, stating there was a warrant out for his arrest.
The Courier
05-05-2025
- The Courier
Perth Prison officer scarred for life after hot soup assault by inmate
A Perth Prison guard was left scarred for life after being scalded with hot soup by a violent inmate, a court has heard. The officer's agonizing burns across his neck and chest are still visible following the unprovoked attack at the city jail in October 2022. Perth Sheriff Court heard his condition is aggravated when he goes into the sunshine. His attacker, serial offender Rafal Walczykowski, admitted assaulting the officer to his severe injury and permanent impairment. The 32-year-old was further convicted by a jury of a separate attack on a fellow prisoner, which left him with a 'life-altering' eye injury. Polish national Walczykowski was jailed for more than three years and faces being kicked out of the country. Sheriff William Wood told the inmate he hopes he will be deported 'swiftly' after finishing his jail term. Fiscal depute Emma Farmer said: 'At the time, Mr Walczykowski was a serving prisoner in HMP Perth. 'At 11am, the victim was working within the prison, supervising lunches. 'The accused attended to collect his lunch.' The guard was behind a table, dishing up servings as Walczykowski and other inmates lined up. The accused was joking with another prisoner, before he picked up his bowl of soup and launched it at the prison officer, said Ms Farmer. 'The victim then restrained Mr Walczykowski on the floor, prior to other staff attending to assist. 'He then realised he had been scalded and immediately went off to take a cold shower to ease the burns.' The fiscal depute said: 'Nurses initially treated the victim's blisters with dressings, along with codeine for pain relief. 'He was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary, where he was found to have suffered a 2% partial thickness burn to his neck and upper chest.' The court heard some patches of burns appeared to go deeper into his skin. His wounds were cleaned by nursing staff and dressed. 'He had to re-attend due to the dressing slipping and a suspected infection that required antibiotics,' said Ms Farmer. The guard had to attend several appointments at a scar management clinic. 'The burns have left certain areas of his skin to be patchy,' the fiscal depute. 'He advices it causes him difficulty if he is in sunlight.' Details of the assault emerged after Walczykowski was convicted of an attack on a prisoner at the jail in March 2022. Jurors heard how he repeatedly punched inmate Stewart McWilliams on the head, leaving him severely injured and permanently impaired. Walczykowski denied the assault on the prisoner but did not put up much fight during his trial, refusing to cross-examine his victim and not giving closing submissions. The jury took just over an hour to unanimously find him guilty. Asked if he wanted to say anything about the attacks, Walczykowski told Sheriff William Wood: 'No, I just wish to be sentenced.' The sheriff told him: 'These were both, in their own ways, very cowardly attacks on people who had done nothing to harm you. 'Mr McWilliams told us that he had been involved in a car accident shortly before ending up in prison, with a cut hand and a broken collar bone. 'You have offered no explanation for assaulting him in the way that you did but you clearly caused him life-altering injuries in respect of his eye.' The sheriff added: 'The prison officer you assaulted was simply doing his job. 'You, seemingly in a fit of pique, threw your soup over him. 'Prison officers should not face that sort of assault when they are doing their job.' He said: 'Only a significant custodial sentence is appropriate.' Walczykowski was jailed for 40 months, consecutive to his current jail term. The sheriff added: 'It is to be hoped that when you are eventually released from prison you will be deported as swiftly as possible.' Walczykowski asked: 'Is that 40 months, or only 20?' He was told that was a matter for prison management. Walczykowski was previously jailed for a total of 52 months, after back-to-back trials at Forfar Sheriff Court. The court heard how he attacked police and a nurse and hit his own father across the face with a tyre iron in Dundee. Sheriff Kirsta Johnstone recommended Walczykowski should be deported after serving his sentence. He told her: 'If you want to deport me and you've got reason for that, you can do that.'
The Courier
02-05-2025
- The Courier
Dundee man restricted new-born baby's breathing, put head under water and launched life-endangering attack
A Dundee 23-year-old has admitted carrying out a life-endangering attack on a new-born baby. First offender Jay Dixon, 23, pled guilty to two courses of domestic abuse towards partners, as well as neglecting and seriously assaulting the baby, who was less than a month old. He had initially been charged with attempting to murder the infant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. Dixon unexpectedly tendered the guilty plea to the lesser charges on the day his trial was due to start at the High Court in Stirling. Dismissing the jury, Judge Farquharson said: 'Unexpectedly, the accused indicated his position changed. 'The accused has pled guilty to a series of extremely serious charges.' His case will recall next week for an agreed narrative of his offending to be disclosed. He will remain remanded at HMP Perth in the meantime. In 2023, Dixon wilfully ill-treated and exposed to danger a child, no older than a month, in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health. Dixon shouted at him, handled him in a manner which was rough and inappropriate for his age and failed to support his head and neck. He lifted the boy above his head and threw him upwards, causing the child's head to strike the ceiling, injuring him. He lifted the infant by his ankles, suspended him upside down and placed him on clothing within a washing basket on a table, whereby he fell to the floor and sustained another injury. Dixon also admitted assaulting the baby in Dundee on various occasions in the space of a month. He compressed the boy's chest and seized and lifted him by the neck, compressing it, causing his breathing to be restricted. Dixon shook him, threw him onto a bed, placed his head in water and put talcum powder on his head and body. This was all to the boy's injury and put his life in danger. Dixon also admitted a course of domestic abuse perpetrated towards a woman at various locations in Dundee in 2021. He admitted shouting at her, uttering derogatory remarks towards her and accusing her of infidelity. Dixon controlled her appearance, whereabouts and with whom she had contact. He telephoned her, sent her messages, punched walls and forced her outside in her underwear and threw her iPad out a window and down a flight of stairs. While on bail for that catalogue of offending, Dixon carried out another year-long campaign of abuse towards a second partner, starting in 2022, at various addresses in Dundee and the Travelodge at Broxden, Perth. He shouted at her, made derogatory remarks, accused her of infidelity and threatened to harm her if she ended their relationship. He controlled her appearance and controlled with whom she had contact and her use of her mobile phone, social media, emails and finances. He damaged her mobile phones belonging and compelled her to share a phone with him. Dixon threatened to harm a child, locked doors to prevent the woman and a child from leaving and forced open a locked door. He threatened to harm the woman and the tot if she attempted to leave and punched, struck and kicked walls, doors and cupboards and struck a cupboard door with an axe, damaging it. Dixon admitted he presented her with knives and encouraged her to harm herself, brandished knives, a machete, a piece of wood and a baseball bat at her and threatened her with them. He seized her by the body, removed a room key from her, struck her on the head, placed his hand over her mouth, pushed her body, causing her to strike a chair and fall to the ground. Dixon also deprived the woman of medication, pushed her onto a bed, punched her on the head and body, bit her finger then seized her mobile phone and threw it. He tried to remove her mobile phone from her, punched a lamp, spat on her, threw mobile telephones, remote controls and other items. These struck her head before Dixon pinned her against a wall. He also instructed the woman, who was left injured, not to disclose his behaviour.
