Man jailed over toy gun “prank”

By Michael MacLeod

A MAN who pointed a toy gun at his tagging officer has been jailed for six months.

Serco employee John Baxter was trying to fix broken house arrest equipment when Iain Turnbull, 49, held the plastic pistol to his head.

Turnbull claimed Mr Baxter had been to his house so many times to check his tag detector that he considered him a friend and pulled the gun as a joke.

Although Mr Baxter carried on with his paperwork before leaving, police were called in after he told his boss about the pretend pistol.

A sheriff  told Turnbull he had been “monumentally stupid” after he conceded the prank was in “poor taste.”

Turnbull had been released early from prison for public order offences and had 14 days left on licence with a tag around his ankle.

Fiscal depute John Kirk told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that the pair had been chatting “amicably” in Turnbull’s house in Ritchie Place, Edinburgh.

He said: “Mr Baxter was at Turnbull’s flat to attend to a problem with his tag.

Flag flies in to honour our brave troops

By Cara Sulieman

MILITARY chiefs were joined by a World War II veteran to mark the start of Armed Forces Week in Scotland’s capital.

The Armed Forces Day flag was parachuted into Holyrood Park by four members of the Royal Regiment of Scotland’s parachute display team the Golden Lions.

It was then driven up the Royal Mile in a 1953 Austin Champ army truck where it was passed on to three members of the 3 Rifles.

The 3 Rifles – who have recently returned from a gruelling six month deployment to Afghanistan – marched to the City Chambers before presenting the flag to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, George Grubb.

WWII veteran Richard Webster was there to witness the flag being hoisted up above the council buildings to mark the start of a week of celebrations across the country honouring the armed forces.

Demarco shot in head “over son’s £1m gambling debt”

By Paul Thornton

A BUSINESSMAN was gunned down on the steps of a casino over the £1m plus gambling debts of his high-flying financier son, a court has heard.

Tony Demarco, 64, was blasted in the back of the head as he stood on the steps of the Gala Maybury Casino in Edinburgh on June 3, 2008.

Four men have been jailed over the attempted slaying but the motive behind the hit has remained a mystery.

But today (Tuesday) a court was told the attack came in retribution for the unpaid debts of Mr Demarco’s son, Antony, to loan sharks covering his gambling losses.

The revelations about the motive behind the notorious attack came as Antony admitted a £1m fraud against two companies.

SuBo is reality TV’s biggest tear-jerker

By Paul Thornton

SUSAN Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent debut is the nation’s most emotional reality TV moment, a survey has said.

SuBo wowed the BGT judges and captured the heart of the nation with her rendition of I Dreamed  a Dream, almost one year ago.

Now the 49-year-old ‘s performance has been voted the biggest reality TV tear-jerker, beating others like Alexandra Burke’s duet with Beyonce on the X-Factor to top spot.

And the survey – by Freeview to help launch HDTV – revealed that men were more likely to shed a tear at the Hairy Angel than at the tribulations their football team.

Overall nine out of 10 people in Scotland get upset while watching television, with soaps dominating the top emotional moments.

Number one was the final episode of Friends while on-screen deaths of Eastenders’ Bradley Brannan and Corrie’s Vera Duckworth were also in the top 10.

Bank boss swindled cash from dead man, disabled pensioners and her own neighbour

By Michael MacLeod

A SHAMELESS bank manager took over £36,000 from customers including a dead man, a disabled elderly couple and one of her own neighbours.

Former Lloyds TSB boss Arlene Wales, 42, told her victims she would help them with their finances, only to embezzle massive sums of cash behind their backs.

She used the money to live a lifestyle she couldn’t afford, while hiding behind a £90,000 credit card debt.

In a bid to solve her own personal financial disaster she targeted five customers at the Dalkeith, Midlothian, bank branch.

But her scheme was snared when the daughter of the late George Clarke was arranging his estate and noticed cash had gone missing.

Rail staff walk-out on rugby’s Calcutta Cup

By Michael MacLeod

RUGBY fans could be in for travel chaos after rail workers voted to strike on the same day as England and Scotland’s Calcutta Cup showdown.

Over 550 First Scotrail guards, drivers and sleeper-train managers will strike on the Murrayfield match-day over staff cuts on the new Airdie to Bathgate line.

The 24-hour walk-outs will affect trains on three occasions over the next four weeks.

The final strike on March 13 lands on the same day that over 65,000 rugby fans descend on Edinburgh’s West End for the biggest game in the RBS Six Nations tournament.

Angry Scotrail bosses hit out at the RMT union’s “cynical and incomprehensible” decision to take industrial action on one of Scotland’s major sporting days.

Son stole and pawned his own mum’s jewellery

By Michael MacLeod

A MAN pawned his elderly mother’s jewellery after she asked him to look after it.

David Wright, 40, was arrested for theft after his 65 year-old mum, Helen, reported him to the police.

She had asked him to look after the keepsakes – worth £500 – but he was “evasive” when she asked for them back.

Wright denied any wrongdoing during a police interview, but today (Tuesday) admitted stealing the jewellery on 27 June 2008 from their home in Edinburgh’s Wester Drylaw Row.

Crime writer vows to “hunt down” arson yobs

By Paul Thornton

SCOTS crime writer Ian Rankin has vowed to track down yobs who torched FIVE wheelie bins outside his home.

Rankin, 49, found the blazing bins in his street in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh on Wednesday morning.

Police have described the act as “mindless vandalism” and are appealing for witnesses.

But Rankin – whose Rebus detective novels have made him a household name – has decided to put his own crime fighting skills to the test.

In a tongue in cheek tweet following the incident Rankin said he was looking for someone with “v long legs” because of the gaps between burnt bins.

He also warns the vandals “we will hunt you”.

Newspaper round-up Tuesday 27th October

Dad of missing chef Claudia Lawrence continues hunt in Scotland

By Oliver Farrimond

THE FATHER of missing chef Claudia Lawrence vowed never to give up trying to find her as he took his search to Scotland yesterday.

Peter Lawrence was at Waverley Station in Edinburgh where he unveiled a poster in the concourse and handed out flyers before moving to Princes Street where he stopped random strangers to tell them about his daughter’s disappearance.

Claudia, who worked as a chef at York University, has now been missing for seven months and efforts to trace her have now widened to the whole of the UK.

Questions over her disappearance intensified in June following revelations in a Sunday newspaper that she may have had as many as 40 secret lovers – many of them married men.

But dad Peter, 63, dismissed the figure, and expressed doubt that the relationships were a factor in her disappearance.