Edinburgh’s courts dished out sentences in February for crimes including sexual assaults, animal abuse, assault, fire-raising and downloading child sex abuse images.
Among those in the city's courts last month was a funeral director who sexually assaulted a colleague when he groped her bottom as they worked together at an Edinburgh business. While, a thug who smashed a bottle over the head of a stranger during violent disturbance in the city was jailed for 18 months.
A teaching assistant who crashed her car into a house causing £200,000 worth of damage after she passed out while fasting during the holy month of Ramada was sentenced. As was an Edinburgh man who was placed on the Sex Offenders Register after being found guilty of groping two women.
A man was jailed for six years for sexual offences against two women in the West Lothian area. And, an Edinburgh man was given a lifelong restriction order and will spend at least five years in jail for sexually assaulting women and girls over the course of 16 years during the 1980s and 90s.
1. Retired advocate’s child sex abuse images
Retired High Court advocate John Mayer downloaded more than 500 pictures depicting the sexual abuse of children, with some victims as young as 12 months old, between August 2019 and January 2021. Mayer, 72, attempted to hide his depravity by deleting the images and was also found to have used computer cleaning software in a bid to hide his online activity. The former lawyer - who turned to writing crime novels following his retirement - denied the offences but was found guilty by a jury following a three day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in December. He was jailed for 12 months and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years when he was sentenced on February 13. Photo: Alexander Lawrie
2. Property executive used best friend's bank card to pay for luxury car and holidays
Anika Allan, 38, used the bank card belonging to close pal Anna Renton to pay for a deposit on a brand new Mercedes as well as using the woman’s account to pay for several hotel stays. Allan worked at the same Edinburgh residential property and investment company where Ms Renton was the managing director and the pair had been “best friends” for around 17 years. But Allan, a mother of two, abused the friendship when she used Ms Renton’s bank card to put down a £2000 deposit on a car at a Mercedes dealership in August 2019. She also used the card to fund several hotel stays but was caught out when Ms Renton was contacted by her bank. The matter was reported to the police and a subsequent investigation showed Allan, of the capital’s Cammo area, had been responsible. Allan pled guilty in January and on February 13 the court was told Allan had paid all the cash back to her former friend. Sheriff McCormack sentenced Allan to a community payback order as punishment where she will have to complete 135 hours of unpaid work. Photo: Alexander Lawrie
3. String of ‘horrendous’ sex crimes and ‘sickening’ animal abuse
Kevin Vivers, 58, was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for a series of sex crimes and animal cruelty offences. He committed the offences in the West Lothian and Forth Valley areas between 1985 and 2021. He was found guilty of 27 charges at the High Court in Livingston on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, and sentenced on February 2, 2024, at the High Court in Edinburgh. Photo: Police Scotland
4. Funeral director fined and placed on sex offenders register
Craig Armstrong, 52. was found guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague while working as a funeral director in Edinburgh. He grabbed and slapped the woman on the buttocks while the pair were alone in the kitchen area of the capital funeral parlour in January 2022. Armstrong also made vile sexual comments to the woman by talking about the size of her breasts and asking if she was late for work because she had been “sh***ing” her partner. The “creepy” funeral boss was also found to have labelled his co-worker “a wee slut” and “a wee dirty” in front of work colleagues. Armstrong, of Musselburgh, East Lothian, returned to the dock for sentencing on February 2 where Sheriff Roderick Flinn issued him with a fine of £320 and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for five years. Photo: Alexander Lawrie