Copfs

A £33 million Scottish government initiative for sharing digital evidence from crime scene to court room is being rolled out across Scotland. Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) allows police officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers, court staff and judges to access a secure, unified syst

A prolific child sex offender who abused four young boys over a 19-year period has been jailed. Peter McCormick, 66, admitted being engaged in lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards the children between June 1978 and December 1997.

A man found guilty of raping two women and sexually assaulting a third has had his prison sentence increased following a successful appeal by the Crown. Anthony Plaskett was given a five-year prison term in January 2024, which prosecutors argued was unduly lenient.

A former councillor caught with child sex abuse images has been given a community payback order. A mobile phone belonging to Ewan Dillon was found to contain 58 indecent photographs of girls aged between five and 15.

A paedophile from Fife who recorded videos of himself sexually assaulting a young girl in Thailand has been jailed. Ian Heddle was arrested at Edinburgh Airport on February 19, 2023, as he was attempting to fly back to Asia, where he had been working as a crane operator.

The Crown Office has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a discretionary fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of 57-year-old David McClenaghan. Mr McClenaghan, a manager with Park’s Motor Group, died following a heart attack in his office at Park’s Kia Showroom, C

A woman who embezzled thousands of pounds from her dementia-stricken mother has been imprisoned for two years and three months. Hayley Matthews, 44, of Edinburgh, embarked on a lavish spending spree after stealing £120,000 from her mother’s bank accounts between September 2019

A drugs courier who smuggled cocaine worth an estimated £1 million into Scotland has been jailed. Police Scotland officers received intelligence that a vehicle was travelling from England with a significant quantity of drugs on board.

A violent rapist has been jailed after assaulting and abusing three women and a child over the course of a decade. Alastair Nicolson was found guilty of a catalogue of offences following a trial at the High Court in Inverness on May 22.

A university student who constructed and sold a cyber-attack programme capable of causing chaos to company and government websites has been jailed for 21 months. Amar Tagore, 21, of Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, earned tens of thousands of pounds from his website which offered buyers a malicious softw

A serial rapist who subjected six women to an extensive campaign of violent, domestic and sexual abuse has been jailed for 10 years. James Kelly was found guilty of 18 charges on June 17 following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. The 43-year-old targeted his victims, including several former

A man who indecently assaulted three people while falsely claiming to be conducting radiation testing after the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant disaster has been jailed. John Beaumont pretended to be a Ministry of Defence official when he targeted fellow students at St Andrews University in Fife between 198

A rapist who subjected two former partners to a campaign of violent and controlling abuse has been jailed for seven years. Charles Fyfe Morrison was found guilty of five charges – including three serious sexual assaults – following a trial at the High Court in Paisley.

A violent rapist who defrauded former partners out of more than £210,000 has been jailed. Christopher Harkins targeted single women on dating websites, quickly befriending them and gaining their trust.

The Crown Office has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a fatal accident inquiry into the death of 59-year-old Alexander Salmond. Mr Salmond, an inmate within HMP Glenochil, near Alloa, died on 26 October 2022 after a gradual deterioration in his health.