Thieving Shell manager thought gambling would clear debts

By Michael MacLeod

A GARAGE boss stole £20,000 from the station’s tills – then gambled it all away in a failed bid to pay off her debts.

Irene Pow tried to take advantage by trying to fiddle with the books and kept three days of takings when one of the Shell garages she managed was closed for refurbishment.

But the 45 year-old’s boss noticed the discrepancies in the balance sheet and confronted her.

She admitted taking the cash and was suspended from the filling station near Edinburgh on the spot.

Yesterday (Tues) Pow pleaded guilty to embezzling the cash from Shell Garage in her home town of Newtongrange, Midlothian.

She will be sentenced next month.

Police slate “abhorrent” coke-dealing cop Chris McGinn

By Michael MacLeod

A SCOTS police officer was exposed by his own colleagues as being a cocaine dealer with a £520 per month drug habit.

Christopher McGinn gave his friends lines of coke in exchange for pints of beer in pub toilets.

He used an iTunes card to snort his own.

And when the 29 year-old was busted by colleagues at Lothian and Borders Police, he desperately pleaded with them to hide his case.

He begged them: “I’m a cop too, I’m a cop too. Lose it for me. Lose it for me please.”

But McGinn had been under covert surveillance and saw no other option but to resign from the force after eight years.

Dealer’s fruity excuse for chucking drugs over prison wall

By Michael MacLeod

A DOZY drug dealer was caught throwing heroin and mobile phones over a prison wall for inmates – after lobbing a fresh orange over too “as an afterthought.”

Unfortunately for David Hyland, 25, the fruit almost hit a prison guard who in turn alerted police who raced to the scene.

Hyland tried to escape on a bicycle, only to find himself cornered in a nearby street.

In a bid to get away, he peddled the bike directly at a female police officer before leaping off and launching it at her.

And although the bike slammed into her body, desperate Hyland was captured by other officers.

Hyland was jailed for two years today (Tuesday) at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for supplying the class-A drug and assaulting the WPC.

Young iPod user attacked by heroin addict

By Michael MacLeod

A HEROIN addict who attacked a boy on a bus for his mobile phone has been jailed for a year.

Darren Rankin,24, picked the 15 year-old for no reason other than to fund his drug habit.

The victim was listening to music on his iPod as the bus travelled along Edinburgh’s Craigentinny Avenue.

He saw Rankin and another man asking other passengers whether he could borrow their mobile phones, and refused to hand his over when he was asked.

Suddenly Rankin grabbed the terrified youngster and put him in a headlock, demanding his phone.

Another passenger stepped in to help while the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made a frantic dash to safety.

Jilted workman jailed for torching flats

By Michael MacLeod

A SACKED builder who downed eight pints before torching a block of flats has been jailed for 18 months.

David Muchemwa, 31, was sacked by Cala Homes just days before he soaked a bundle of clothes with petrol and used them to set fire to their Fettes Rise development in Edinburgh.

He claimed he had first checked each flat to make sure they were empty.

But he missed two pensioners who were left trapped in their third-storey home.

The terrified couple tried to escape but were blocked inside their burning home by thick black smoke.

Hero fire-fighters managed to rescue the 72 year-old man and his 68 year-old wife from the blaze on December 19 last year – after firebug Muchemwa had called for their help on 999.

“Out of control” ASBO thug breaks county-wide ban

By Michael MacLeod

A YOB branded “Scotland’s worst teenager” has been ordered to go to boot camp.
Gavin Inkster, 19, got an ASBO banning him from the whole of Midlothian after terrorising his neighbours by breaking into houses and stealing cars.

But less than a week after getting Scotland’s first ever county-wide ban, Inkster was caught driving his mum’s car while disqualified and uninsured.

Today (Wed) in court he also admitted breaking bail orders having strayed into Dalkeith, Midlothian, on at least two occasions after picking up the ASBO.

His own lawyer described him as “very foolish”, while Sheriff Kathrine Mackie blasted him as “someone totally out of control.”

Ex-Hibs keeper boozed at the wheel

By Michael MacLeod

A HIBS reject who “drowned his sorrows” by drink driving has been fined £1,000 and banned from the roads for four years.

Hungarian goalkeeper David Groff, 20, lost his £30,000 per-year contract with the SPL side earlier this year after failing to make an impact.

He had featured on the fringes of the first team during his three year spell at Easter Road, but was released into unemployment in March.

A few weeks later police found him slumped drunk at the wheel of his Audi A3 in an Asda car park close to the Easter Road stadium where he played in front of thousands of fans.

Police said Groff and a friend were sleeping in the car with the engine running.

Lucky students graduate with first ever storytelling qualification

A storytelling session

By Oliver Farrimond

ONCE upon a time … happy students from a Midlothian college were left celebrating winning the first ever qualification of its kind in Scotland – in storytelling.

Newbattle Abbey College, which specialises in adult learning, teaches the 10-month course to students to use at work jointly with the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

With backgrounds in tourism, education and social care, graduates can either bring their skills back to their day-to-day work, or join more than 100 PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLERS already working across Scotland.

Spinning a yarn is an ancient art and many traditional Scottish folk tales are passed down through word of mouth.

51-year-old Lyndsay Weir, from Glasgow, was asked to participate in the course while working as a Young People’s Officer.

Panic as jet fire grounds Edinburgh flight

By Michael MacLeod

PASSENGERS had to flee across a runway after a plane engine caught fire just moments before take off.

Fire crews surrounded a Flybe jet at Edinburgh Airport after the pilot spotted smoke bellowing past his cockpit.

He grabbed a fire extinguisher and ushered all 24 passengers off the jet, which was bound for the Isle of Man.

The scare stemmed from a propeller motor which caught fire minutes before the plane was taxied to the Turnhouse runway on Tuesday afternoon.

Kilt copyright could save tourists from tartan tat

By Michael MacLeod

A CLAN chief is calling for a “tartan trademark” to stop cut price cloth being fobbed off as authentically Scottish.

Lord Jamie Sempill, director of the world’s biggest clan gathering, fears tourists are being conned into buying fake Scots goods made in China or India.

He says a kilt copyright would force the fakes to make it clear that their goods aren’t made in Scotland.

But his plans to change to European law to protect the iconic tartan goods would still be “open to abuse” according to the Scottish Tartans Authority.