These criminals were found guilty in October of crimes including murder, drug smuggling and speeding.
A 48-year-old man who carried out an ‘extremely vicious’ knife attack in Edinburgh was jailed for nine years. And, a ‘dangerous and controlling man’ who murdered his wife on New Year’s Day was jailed for life.
Two criminals were in the dock for attempting to smuggle drugs through Edinburgh Airport, while a former Hibs legend was found guilty of speeding on his motorcycle.
9. Hot tub murderer
Canadian Aren Pearson, who was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Claire Leveque in Shetland in February 2024, at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 15. Pearson told a 999 operator exactly what he had done - stabbing Claire multiple times, choking her and submerging her in water in a hot tub - and also told officers and paramedics who attended the scene that he had killed Claire. On February 11, 2024, he murdered her in a hot tub in an annexe of his mother’s home on mainland Shetland. He then drove his Porsche sports car into the sea and inflicted knife injuries on himself before returning to the house where he was arrested. On Wednesday, October 15, he was found guilty of murder and given a life sentence, with an order to serve a minimum of 25 years in custody. He was also found guilty on a separate charge of assaulting Claire. | Police Scotland Photo: Police Scotland
10. Paedophile sting
James Wilson, 38, contacted an online account in the name of ‘13-year-old Isla’ and began sending repeated requests that she post him indecent naked images of herself. Wilson also encouraged the ‘child’ to view online pornography and sent her a link to the adults-only Pornhub website during the sordid contact. But Wilson was snared after it emerged he was contacting an adult decoy from the paedophile hunter group Scotland’s Child Protection Team ASA who had set up the account in a bid to catch online predators. Members of the hunter group carried out an online sting at his former home in West Barns, East Lothian, that was live streamed on Facebook and Wilson was eventually arrested and charged. He denied the allegations against him and stood trial accused of sending sexual communication to who he believed to be a child in September 2021 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year. Wilson returned to the dock for sentencing on Monday, October 20, where Sheriff Stewart decided against a custodial sentence and instead imposed a community-based disposal. Wilson was placed under the supervision of the social work department for 12 months and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 12 months and handed a conduct requirement that bans him having contact with any child under the age of 18 without prior approval. | Alexander Lawrie
11. Hibs legend caught driving at 75mph on Edinburgh road
Hibs' Scottish Cup winning hero Darren McGregor was clocked reaching speeds up to 75mph as he drove a powerful motorcycle along the A8 Glasgow Road near to the capital’s airport. McGregor, 40, pulled out into the outside lane to overtake traffic at speed but was being followed by an unmarked police car that detected he was travelling too fast. The officers pulled the former Easter Road star over as he had exceeded the road limit of 40mph on February 27 this year. McGregor failed to appear in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on October 31, but defence lawyer Nigel Bruce lodged a guilty plea to an amended charge of speeding in his absence. Mr Bruce told the court the road’s speed limit had recently been reduced from 50mph to 40mph and his client was “a football coach at the present time” and could not attend as he was working. The Crown agreed to amend the complaint that was initially labelled as a dangerous driving offence down to one of exceeding the speed limit. Sheriff Joseph Stewart sentenced McGregor to have four penalty points placed on his driving licence and ordered him to pay a fine of £370 to be paid within 28 days. | SNS Group Photo: Craig Williamson