Copfs

A manager who embezzled just over £40,000 from vulnerable residents at a social care charity has been imprisoned for 12 months. Violet Connor, 67, of Glenrothes, stole money from the bank accounts of Sense Scotland users over a three-year period.

The Crown Office has lodged first notices for fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of 57-year-old Stephen Charters and 19-year-old Harris James Macdonell. Stephen Charters, an inmate within HMP Edinburgh, died on 19 June 2022 after becoming unwell and suffering a collapse. A preliminary hearing

A Chinese crime gang that trafficked vulnerable women and forced them to work in brothels in Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of a lucrative prostitution network have been jailed for a total of 20 years and nine months. Qin Huang, 31, Guolei Huang, 35, and Xiao Min, 38, were sentenced at the High Court

A controlling and violent domestic abuser has been jailed following a catalogue of sexual and physical abuse. Steven Ramage targeted his victim at various addresses in the Ayrshire area between May 2014 and January 2020.

A Dundee woman who sold jewellery and ornaments online made from illegally traded ivory taken from the tusks of elephants has been fined £1,400. Joyce Bell, 67, made money from selling the carved ivory items to customers, many in China, between 2016 to 2022.

A salesman who was found guilty of being part of a £3.3 million fraud against Edinburgh University has been jailed for seven years. Aasim Johar, 54, colluded with the university’s former assistant director of estates and buildings Geoff Turnbull to mastermind a bogus procurement scheme t

A man convicted of concealing a haul of unaccounted-for money in a van has been ordered to pay back thousands of pounds under proceeds of crime legislation. In March 2022, Andrew Early, 38, pled guilty along with a co-accused to hiding £30,020 in the vehicle.

A former director of a haulage firm has been imprisoned for 16 months over a fraud involving police escort contracts. James Campbell altered paperwork for services provided to the firm by police in Scotland and Wales and overcharged a Spanish company by £110,000 for the transportation of wind

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening of new office accommodation in Dundee for the city’s Crown Office staff. Around 80 COPFS staff moved into the new office, in Compass House on Riverside Drive, in March after relocating from the previous COPFS prem

Paul McNaughton has been sentenced to life imprisonment at the High Court in Glasgow for the murder of retired Edinburgh schoolteacher Peter Coshan in August 2022. The punishment part of the sentence is 22 years and will be backdated to August 18, 2022. McNaughton, 29, pled guilty to both charges at

A child abuser who targeted young girls during sleepovers at his Falkirk home has been jailed. Anthony Walker raped one child and used lewd, indecent, and libidinous practices towards all five victims between 1998 and 2007.

A man who raped two former partners and abused a third over a three-year period has been jailed. Haydn Edmonds was found guilty of four charges on May 7 following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Pupils from Dalziel High School in Motherwell have been crowned the winners of this year’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) schools public speaking competition.

Solicitor General Ruth Charteris KC has apologised for the poor quality of Scotland's fatal accident inquiry (FAI) system. Speaking at Holyrood, Ms Charteris suggested there could be “legitimate reasons” for delays, some of which have taken as long as a decade.

A man who abducted a woman before subjecting her to a prolonged and violent assault lasting more than 21 hours has been jailed. Leslie Jackson left his victim with 54 separate injuries after attacking her at a property in Aberdeen on July 30, 2022.