A drunken man wandered into a Dundee pub when it had closed for the night and made himself a cocktail.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard the fire escape door had been left unsecured at The Capitol Bar, Seagate, after closing time on August 17.

Craig Whelan, 39, drunkenly discovered the door was unlocked and walked into the pub.

On doing so, he set off the fire alarm and when police arrived Whelan was found sat at a table with a bottle of whiskey and a cocktail shaker.

Fiscal depute Muhammad Sadiq told the court Whelan, of Fleming Gardens East, stole a bottle of Jim Beam worth £43.

Solicitor George Donnelly, defending, highlighted that although Whelan had previous convictions, his most recent was in 1997.

He said: “The fire door was left unsecured and Mr Whelan was walking along the Seagate and found the door open.

“He went in and not realising he had set off the fire alarm, he gathered alcohol and made himself a cocktail.

“Police found him sitting at a table with a bottle and cocktail shaker.”

Whelan was arrested and later released on an undertaking to appear at court but failed to appear when the case last called and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Mr Donnelly continued: “He found a wallet on the street last night and handed it in to police, however when he gave his own details police saw there was a warrant for his arrest and he was detained.”

He added that it was “always Mr Whelan’s intention” to plead guilty.

Whelan admitted stealing a quantity of alcohol from The Capitol, Seagate, on August 17.

Addressing Whelan, Sheriff Alistair Carmichael said: “I note that you’ve not been in trouble since 1997 and in that case you will be admonished but that is a warning not to do it again.”

Eddie Gershon, a spokesman for the pub, said: “As with any company, we take all such incidents very seriously but our main concern here is that nobody was injured as a result.

“It seems unusual that he was only interested in pouring himself a cocktail.

“It certainly is a one-off and we respect the judgment of the court.”

A man headbutted another man in a Dundee student union in an unprovoked attack.

Ivans Pluscs, 21, of Fyffe Street, was jailed for 18 months after admitting one charge at the sheriff court.

He admitted assaulting Stuart Milne by butting him on the head, causing him to fall to the ground and strike his head, all to his severe injury.

Pluscs carried out his attack on October 29 last year, at Dundee University Students Union, on Balfour Street.

Fiscal depute John Adams told the court that at 1.30am Mr Milne had tried to kiss a woman, who declined.

Mr Adams said: “A number of witnesses within the bar then saw the accused headbutt the complainer. None of these people saw the complainer do anything to provoke the assault.

“As a result, the complainer fell backwards and struck the back of his head on the tiled floor. Immediately after the assault, the accused left the building.”

Mr Milne was taken to Ninewells Hospital via ambulance where he received treatment to a perforated eardrum and bleeding to the ear. A CT scan showed he also had a skull fracture.

Pluscs was traced and, during his police interview, told officers that he had kissed a woman, left momentarily, and returned to kiss her again.

After kissing her the second time he said he turned and saw Mr Milne standing in his way and headbutted him.

He admitted Mr Milne had not done anything other than stand in his way prior to the assault.

A 71-YEAR-OLD man has been charged with punching a taxi driver on the head – while he was driving.

James Wilkinson, of The Beeches, will stand trial at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Wilkinson denies assaulting taxi driver Suleman Suleman by repeatedly seizing him on the body while he was driving a car.

The charge alleges that he punched the taxi driver on the head, to his injury, on April 11 in Lothian Crescent.

Mr Wilkinson’s trial is scheduled to take place on November 3.

A woman punched another woman in her own home then held the point of a pair of scissors to her neck and robbed her.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Lisa Diduca, 26, of Arklay Terrace, robbed a quantity of household items from Jacqueline Petrie within her own home on Lilybank Mews.

The court heard Mrs Petrie had invited Diduca into her home after she found Diduca upset and crying on the street outside.

She gave her a pair of socks, pyjamas and slippers, and she offered to give Diduca items she intended to throw out.

Diduca responded to Mrs Petrie’s kindness by punching her on the head then picking up a large pair of scissors and holding the point to her neck and robbing her.

Diduca had denied one charge of assault and robbery on October 27 last year, at Lilybank Mews, but a jury found her guilty after trial.

She robbed Mrs Petrie of a quantity of black bags and contents, a quantity of cushions and towels, a quantity of gloves, and a laptop bag containing a laptop and leads.

She also robbed a quantity of clothing, a purse, a pair of scissors, perfume, hair curlers and hair products.

And she further robbed Mrs Petrie of cigarettes and a lighter, a pair of slippers, a sum of money, and a mobile phone and charger.

Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “Mrs Petrie saw you upset and crying and she went to help you.

“She did nothing but good.

“She was in every sense a Good Samaritan and you responded by assaulting her in her own home.”

Diduca was jailed for three years.

A 44-year-old man has admitted being in possession of more than 20 hours of video footage of child porn.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Brian Clark also had nearly 450 images of child abuse.

Clark, a prisoner of Perth, previously served a prison sentence for lewd and libidinous practices.

His licence had expired just 10 days before he bought himself a laptop and began downloading indecent images of children.

Clark was still subject to a supervised release order when police received intelligence regarding his behaviour.

Fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie said police executed a warrant at his home.

She said: “Indecent images were found on the USB, some of which were accessible and others had been deleted and recovered. On the USB, 192 images were found and 58 videos. Some of the videos were described as extremely graphic.

“The age range of the children involved was from one year to 16 years, and involved both male and female children.

“On the laptop, 256 images and 210 videos were found, again some of which were accessible and some which had been deleted and were recovered.”

Clark admitted that between May 31 and June 29, at Aboyne Avenue, he took, permitted to be taken and made indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children.

Sheriff George Way said: “Almost as soon as he thought it was clear for him to access the internet he went and bought himself a laptop and did this, and that suggests to me there may be some sort of psychological problems.”

Sentence was deferred until December 16 for reports and Clark was remanded meantime.

A 59-YEAR-OLD man allegedly hit another man on the head with a rolling pin in a Dundee street.

Andrew Carnegie, of Chevaliers Pend, Dundee, appeared in private at the city’s sheriff court.

Carnegie made no plea or declaration in relation to two charges on petition.

He is charged with behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear or alarm, by engaging in a fight, on September 29, at Chevaliers Pend.

Carnegie is further charged with assaulting Edward Strachan by striking him on the head with a rolling pin, to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement, on the same date and at the same location.

The case against Carnegie was continued for further inquiries and he was given bail meantime.

A 42-year-old man allegedly raped a woman during a car journey in Dundee.

Safdar Hussain, of Creiff Road, Perth, appeared in private at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Hussain made no plea or declaration in relation to one charge on petition.

He is charged with raping a woman during a car journey from one Dundee street to another, on October 18.

Hussain allegedly committed the offence by kissing her, pinning her down against a car seat and raping her.

The case was continued for further investigation and Hussain was remanded meantime.

Dundee United midfielder Paul Paton has been fined £500 after admitting hitting former Tannadice favourite Lucasz Zaluska.

The late-night incident happened in the west end of Glasgow last year, the city’s court heard today.

Paton, 28, changed his plea to guilty on the first day of evidence and admitted punching Celtic’s Zaluska on the head in Byres Road on 20 October 2014.

A lawyer for Paton, of Paisley, said he was provoked by abuse and there was no injury to the victim.

A charge of a further assault on the goalkeeper was dropped. Sheriff Andrew Normand issued a £500 fine.

Three masked men dressed in camouflage clothing and armed with air rifles robbed a group of teenage boys as they camped near Clatto reservoir.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Kieran McIntyre, 20, Liam Scott, 19, and Adam Parkin, 19, shone torches into the boys’ tent and demanded they get out.

They then made the boys sit on rocks while they pointed air rifles at them and shone torches in their faces.

McIntyre, Scott and Parkin then robbed the younger boys.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court the incident happened on March 7 last year.

She said the four youths had pitched a tent and sat at a camp fire before going to bed around 11pm, leaving their bags outside.

But around midnight they were wakened by noises suggesting a group of people were rummaging through their bags outside.

The fiscal said: “One youth was then aware of the tent being touched in the area where his head was and he moved his head before the same area was kicked.

A torch was then shone into the tent and Scott said words similar to: ‘Are you getting up then?’ and: ‘Get out of the tent.’”

Three of the boys exited but one stayed inside, sleeping.

Parkin held a torch in their faces and pointed a rifle towards them and said: “Run and you will get shot.”

McIntyre, Scott and Parkin were all dressed in camouflage or military style clothing with faces masked and only eyes visible.

Parkin then demanded the fourth boy get out of the tent and said: “I’m giving you 30 seconds to get out here or I’ll blow your head off.” The boys handed over £5, mobile phones and cigarettes.

One boy said his phone was in the tent and Parkin pressed the barrel of the gun into the back of his head and told him to get it.

Parkin, Scott and McIntyre then told the boys not to leave before sunrise as they were watching and they would be shot if they tried it. The boys waited until morning before leaving.

McIntyre, of Clepington Street, Scott, of Eden Street, and Parkin, of St Dennis Terrace, all admitted one charge of robbing four males under the age of 16, between March 7 and 8, at Baldragon Wood.

Scott and Parkin further admitted a second charge of having an air rifle on the same date and location.

Sentence was deferred until November 24 for reports.

A woman who fraudulently claimed £70,000 worth of benefits has been spared jail.

At Dundee Sheriff Court, Sheriff George Way told Sarah Alison he would not impose a custodial sentence as the effect on her children would be “disproportionate” to the offence.

Alison, 34, of St Fillans Road, previously admitted two charges of benefit fraud.

She committed the fraud over a four year period between 2009 and 2013, at a property at Linksfield, Tayport, by failing to declare to benefit bosses that she was living with Graham Thomson.

Alison admitted fraudulently claiming £60,000 worth of income support between April 7 2009 and March 29 2013. And she admitted fraudulently claiming £10,000 worth of housing and council tax benefit between September 18 2009 and March 31 2013.

Solicitor Ann Duffy, defending, said Alison has three children.

Mrs Duffy previously warned Alison a custodial sentence was “almost inevitable” and measures were put in place with regards to her children.

However Sheriff Way said: “In reality the length of time she would spend in custody does not impose adequate punishment.

“And the impact on her children would in itself be disproportionate to the offence.”

Alison was ordered to complete 230 hours of unpaid work, placed under three years supervision and given a seven month restriction of liberty order.

A senior council worker is facing a claim that she stalked a colleague by turning up at his home and workplace uninvited.

Janice Wotherspoon — who works for Angus Council as an engineer — is alleged to have left gifts at the home and workplace of Dundee man Walter Scott, who also works for the local authority.

It’s claimed that Wotherspoon, 47, also turned up at Mr Scott’s workplace and home uninvited.

She is alleged to have done this on a number of occasions and while suspended from her job — causing Mr Scott fear and alarm.

Wotherspoon, of West Hillbank, Kirriemuir, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court where she denied the charge and had trial date set.

The stalking is alleged to have taken place over a three-week period earlier this year.

One of the charges against Wotherspoon states that she engaged in a course of conduct which caused Mr Scott fear and alarm.

It alleges that Wotherspoon committed the offence on “a number of occasions” between March 14 and April 9, at his home in Forthill Road, Broughty Ferry, and also at Angus Council’s head-quarters at Angus House, Orchardbank Business Park, Forfar.

The charge claims that Wotherspoon repeatedly attended Mr Scott’s place of work, while she was suspended.

She is also said to have repeatedly visited his home in Forthill Road uninvited.

She also allegedly entered his house without invitation, and left unwanted gifts there.

Wotherspoon has also denied a second charge of driving without insurance on April 9 in Forthill Road and elsewhere unknown.

Trial date was set for February 2, with an intermediate diet planned for November 13.

Wotherspoon works within the roads department at Angus Council.

A spokesman for Angus Council told the Evening Telegraph that the local authority would not be commenting on the case.

In a statement, he said: “We will not make comment on individual personnel matters.”​

A case against a woman alleged to have supplied and possessed drugs was thrown out of court — after police failed to provide relevant papers to bring a prosecution.

Tracey Mudie, 36, pleaded not guilty to two charges and was due to face trial.

She was accused of supplying cannabis resin, cannabis and diazepam at her home in Charleston on January 4.

Mudie was also alleged to have been in possession of heroin on the same date after police conducted a search of the property.

Mudie went on to appear three times at Dundee Sheriff Court before a sheriff lost patience with the police and threw the case out, after officers failed to bring forward a report on drugs they had allegedly seized.

Solicitor Keith Sym, from Bruce and Co, was representing Mudie in court and he claimed police had been given “more than enough time” to compile the report.

He said: “What happened in this case was the police never submitted a ‘STOP’ report.

“When there’s allegations that someone has supplied drugs, they have to state what the drugs were, why they think were being supplied, why they think the accused was involved and other aspects of why they’ve brought the case.

“All these details are supposed to be put in the report.

“They’ve had more than enough time to put together the report as the trial has called three times over 10 months and they’ve not got round to doing it. Now she cannot be prosecuted ever for these charges.”

Mr Sym said this sort of problem was not an unusual occurrence, and when asked if he thought the delays may be due to staffing pressures at the police, he said: “Probably — this is not an uncommon thing to happen, although 10 months is the longest I’ve ever experienced.

“Sometimes I think that once police put the case to the procurator fiscal that’s the end of it. Someone in the police is not pursuing it anyway.”

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said the content of STOP reports relies on information drawn from a number of different sources and can take some time to produce.

She added: “We will look into the circumstances of this particular case to identify any reasons for late submission and any wider process issues.”

A 78-year-old Dundee man has been jailed for four years and 10 months after admitting 12 child sex offences.

Thomas Hutton, of Park Road, appeared previously at Dundee Sheriff Court and admitted five charges of sexual assault of a child and one charge of engaging in sexual activity with a child.

He also admitted three charges of lewd and libidinous practices towards the child.

He further admitted a further three charges of exposing himself in a sexual manner to a child.

All of the offences took place at a property in Dundee over a nine-year period, from 2005 to last year.

His abuse only stopped in August of last year when a victim came forward.

Hutton was caught after one of the girls he targeted became upset when she was told she would be seeing him.

She told her parents of the abuse she had suffered.

That led to the other four victims coming forward before Hutton confessed.

Previously, a court heard that the abuse began in 2005 against a primary school girl.

Hutton showed the girl a film that contained scenes of a sexual nature.

He then had her perform a sex act on him.

The abuse of that girl lasted for several years, a period during which he also targeted two other girls.

He went on to abuse another girl and a boy.

Solicitor George Donnelly, defending, said that “there could be no mitigation” for the abuse Hutton carried out.

The solicitor told the court: “These offences were committed against children and betrayed the trust of those children.

“They ought to have never been committed.

“There’s nothing that can be said that begins to justify or explain it in any way.”

Hutton, a first offender, was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Sentencing, Sheriff Drummond said: “This involved a high level of planning.

“It was of some concern that you had to some extent placed responsibility on the children.

“I’ve taken into account that you are a first offender and that you are 78 years old.

“It does seem clear to me that you present an ongoing risk of harm to children.”

Following his prison sentence, Hutton will be subject to a four-year extended sentence within the community.

Kenneth Nicoll, 22, of Adamson Court, will stand trial at Dundee Sheriff Court accused of severely injuring a man in a bottle attack at Asda.

Nicoll denies that on February 11 2012, at Asda car park, Milton of Craigie retail park, whilst acting with others, he assaulted Darren Gair.

The charge alleges that Nicoll dragged Mr Gair from a motor vehicle, punched, kicked and stamped on his head and body, and struckhim on the head with a glass bottle, to his severe injury.

Trial takes place on November 9 with a further first diet tomorrow.

A man is facing court accused of leaving a child unattended “for an extended period” in a locked car in direct sunlight on a hot day.

Nawaz Mohammed is alleged to have “wilfully neglected” the child on August 22 this year in Dundee’s Dalcraig Crescent in a manner likely to cause the child unnecessary suffering or injury to health.

Prosecutors say the child was left alone in the locked car for a period of time, with the car parked in direct sunlight in hot weather conditions and with no ventilation within the vehicle.

Mohammed, 37, of Brington Road, Dundee, did not enter a plea when the case called at Dundee Sheriff Court.

A Dundee man was jailed after injecting himself with heroin in another person’s house and then refusing to leave when asked.

Douglas Laidlaw, 35, of Jessie Devlin Close House, Soapwork Lane, admitted that, between August 27 and August 29, at a property in Tulloch Court, he behaved in a threatening or abusive manner.

The court heard he caused damage to the furnishings, refused to leave the property when asked to do so, injected a substance in the presence of the occupier and threatened her with violence.

The court heard that Laidlaw claimed he had mistaken the occupier’s house with his brother’s property.

When the occupier returned to her house, Laidlaw was with another male sitting on the sofa.

Laidlaw was later taken from the property by police. He was jailed for a year.

A drug courier was caught with more than £50,000 worth of heroin in a car in Dundee.

John McCormack, 30, was caught by police with 503.4g of the Class A drug at Kingsway West.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard the heroin was found concealed within two packages under the passenger seat of a vehicle in which Mr McCormack was travelling.

He was searched and found with three mobile phones and £280 cash.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court police received information that drugs were being delivered into the Dundee area on February 3 in a black VW Golf.

The fiscal said: “Around 4pm the vehicle was stopped on Kingsway West, Dundee. A former co-accused was driving and accused McCormack was sat in the passenger seat.

“As police approached McCormack was seen to push two packages under the passenger seat. He was searched and found to have three mobile phones and £280 cash. A further two phones were found within the vehicle, along with a sat nav.

“Two packages of brown powder were found underneath the passenger seat, which were later found to contain 503.4g of heroin, with a street value of £50,340 if sold in tenner bags.”

The fiscal said the heroin was 19% purity — twice as strong as the average heroin found on Dundee streets — and if it had been “bulked out” its street value could double to around £100,000. However, no bulking agents were found and McCormack might not have known the strength of the drug.

An agent acting on behalf of the accused said: “He is a carer for his mother and father and requires measures to be put on place by social services for them.”

McCormack, of Glasgow Harbour Terrace, Glasgow, admitted he was concerned in the supply of heroin. Sentence was deferred until December 4 for reports.

It comes as it was revealed police recovered nearly £111,000 of drugs in the Dundee area between April and September.

Operation Aurora targeted a specific group of offenders from north and south of the border involved in the supply and distribution of Class A drugs.

It saw 29 criminals arrested on a range of offences.

A couple are facing court accused of “engaging in sexual activity” at the side of a busy Dundee road.

The teenagers are accused of committing an act of public indecency on the city’s Riverside Drive on June 19 this year.

Both are aged 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons.

He pleaded not guilty and had trial set for February.

The female teen had the case against her continued without plea until December.

A man drove an HGV through Dundee whilst two and a half times the legal drink drive limit.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Jeffery Roll, 55, struggled to manoeuvre the 48 tonne DAF articulated lorry around a narrow bend at Balgray Street and Balgray Place.

The court heard Roll scraped nearby parked cars as he attempted to turn the corner.

Witnesses stopped Roll and attempted to take his details in relation to the damage and noticed he smelled strongly of alcohol.

Fiscal depute Muhammad Sadiq told the court the incident happened at 5.45pm, on July 2.

The fiscal said: “He seemed to be struggling to pass the parked vehicles on the street and at one point his lorry struck the back of a parked vehicle.

“Witnesses approached the accused to exchange details and at this point they all found the accused to be under the influence of alcohol.”

Police were contacted and Roll was given a roadside breath test, which he failed.

Later police tests showed he had a reading of 59mics of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Roll, of Dexterway, Middlewich, was employed by a haulage firm in Cheshire at the time of the offence.

He pleaded guilty to one charge against him.

Roll admitted driving a DAF articulated lorry after consuming so much alcohol that he gave a reading of 59mics of alcohol in 100ml of breath, exceeding the 22mics limit on July 2, at Balgray Street and Balgray Place.

Sheriff Carmichael disqualified Roll from driving for 18 months.

He also gave Roll a fine of £400.

A man is to stand trial accused of stalking a woman by following her around Dundee in his car – before threatening to post “personal pictures and videos of her on Facebook”.

Scott Ritchie is alleged to have tailed the woman around the city in September last year.

He is accused of “engaging in a course of conduct that caused her fear or alarm” by repeatedly following her while she was in her car and he was within his.

Prosecutors say Ritchie drove in close proximity to her car, repeatedly stared at her and sounded his horn, pointed at her and shouted at her.

He is further alleged to have persistently sent her threatening and abusive text messages and threatened to disclose “personal pictures and videos” of her on Facebook.

Ritchie, 27, of Glenconner Drive, Dundee, pleaded not guilty to the stalking charge on summary complaint at Dundee Sheriff Court.

A trial date was set in February.