Courts

A boy who was travelling on a train in Sutherland was frightened when a passenger stared at him and slammed a Swiss Army style knife onto a table.

A man from Tain spotted police - who were looking for someone else - and ran away. He was caught with nearly £20,000 worth of cannabis.

A woman spat at police officers on Boxing Day after they arrived about a separate incident and then damaged a mattress in a police cell.

He was given a prison sentence and hit with a non-harassment order to protect his former partner.

A second man has been arrested and charged in connection with a major fire at the Fairways Business Park in Inverness.

A popular attraction forced to temporarily shutter its doors after a major blaze destroyed neighbouring businesses will reopen within weeks.

His defence agent said: ‘He has messed up his life but is the author of his own misfortune.’

Police were assaulted and threatened by a 36-year-old Conon man whose welfare they were checking.

Elderly women were targeted by a 30-year-old Ross-shire man who conned them out of money, by pretending to offer to carry out house maintenance.

Staff at a politician's office were terrified when an angry voter threatened to use AK47s, claiming he had connections in Ireland.

It is also claimed that he grabbed her neck.

He had been jailed twice before for possessing vast amounts of indecent images and videos of children being abused.

It is understood Alness Academy, Wick High, Inverness Royal Academy and Charleston Academy have gender neutral toilets.

A round-up of a very busy week in the courts.

He performed an unsafe overtake while approaching the Auldearn junction.

“The report indicates that he is more of an idiot than a sex pest,” Sheriff Gary Aitken said.

Three years on since Shaun Matheson reported his former sports coach’s crimes to the police, Robbie Paulin has been jailed.

An ex-prisoner who was filmed attacking a chippy worker after being refused cheese sauce on his fries demanded to be sentenced immediately.

An Inverness American football coach who “manipulated and tricked” two teenage boys into posing for naked photos and videos has been jailed.

A woman who went on a seven week long shoplifting spree in one shop has been banned from entering the store.