Among those facing justice in September were a drunk couple who forced a flight from Edinburgh to be diverted, as well as two men who ran an unlicensed dog ‘fertility clinic.
A man who slashed a student in a knife attack at a Pro-Palestine protest in the city was sentenced, and a football boss who leaked medical reports was also in the dock last month.
There were also criminals in Edinburgh’s courts for crimes including sexual assault, domestic abuse, embezzlement and sending inappropriate messages to schoolgirls.
5. Man had sex with boy in hotel
A man who travelled from his home in England to have sex with a teenage schoolboy at an Edinburgh hotel avoided a jail sentence last month. Man Lok Ng made contact with the young victim on the Discord group chat app before arranging to meet up with him at a Premier Inn in the capital’s city centre in January last year. The 24-year-old Thai national then engaged in sexual intercourse with the boy despite the lad being under the age of 16. The boy’s concerned mother managed to track her son to the hotel and after the police were called in officers discovered disgusting child abuse images on Ng’s mobile phone. Ng, from Warrington, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to three child sex abuse offences when he appeared at the capital court earlier this year and returned to the dock for sentencing on September 9. Sheriff Douglas Keir said due to Ng’s age and that he is a first offender he had decided there was an alternative to a prison sentence. Sheriff Keir placed Ng on a community payback order with a supervision element of 24 months as a direct alternative to custody. Ng was also placed on the sex offenders register for two years and ordered to take part in sessions with the sex offenders rehabilitation programme, Maps for Change. | Alexander Lawrie
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6. Carer sent sick requests to schoolgirls
An Edinburgh carer with a fetish for children in tights has been placed on the sex offenders register after he sent sick messages to online profiles which he believed belonged to two schoolgirls. Alan Langmuir sent the sexual messages to ‘12-year-old Megan’ and ‘14-year-old Mollie’ on the Facebook Messenger app over a three month period last year. Langmuir demanded the ‘children’ send him images of them wearing tights. He also quizzed the ‘girls’ on their school uniforms, sent them links to porn sites and repeatedly said they were “pretty” and “beautiful”. The 64-year-old was snared after he asked one child profile to send a pair of her tights to his home and he posted his address on the app. Langmuir was then confronted at his home in the Leith area of the capital by members of a paedophile hunter group after it emerged he had been contacting two adult decoys between August and October last year. Defence agent Paul Smith told the court his client was working as a carer at the time but was initially suspended following his arrest and was sacked from his position in January this year. Langmuir was placed on the sex offenders register and under the supervision of the social work department for 18 months and ordered to carry out 190 hours of unpaid work. He was also given a conduct requirement where he is banned from having contact with children under 16 along with a series of restrictions to accessing the internet. | Alexander Lawrie
7. Man raped pregnant woman
A man who raped a pregnant woman and a child during a campaign of abuse over five decades was jailed last month. Brian Thomson, 67, was jailed on September 16 for 11 years after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh on August 20 saw a jury find him guilty of sexually assaulting and raping a young girl and a woman. The court heard how Thomson began sexually offending in 1970, when he was just 12 years old. Over the next seven years, he repeatedly assaulted and raped a young girl in East Lothian. The 67-year-old was also found guilty of sexually abusing a woman in the 1980s and 1990s, including raping her at a hospital in Edinburgh. Thomson has been added to the sex offenders register indefinitely and indefinite non-harassment orders were also granted. | Stock Photo: contributed
8. Woman swindled £30,000 from vulnerable victims
An Edinburgh charity manager who stole £30,000 from victims suffering from cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis to feed her online gambling habit was spared a jail sentence last month. Margaret Burnett was employed with the Leonard Cheshire charity when she stole cash from five vulnerable and disabled residents living at a supported accommodation unit in Edinburgh. The team leader used the victims’ bank cards to raid their accounts and helped herself to a total of £29,900 over a 30-month period. Burnett, 69, was eventually caught when bank staff spotted “anomalies” on one resident’s account and the police were called in following an internal investigation by charity bosses. The pensioner pleaded guilty to embezzling the money from the residents between January 2014 and August 2016 when she appeared at Edinburgh’s sheriff court in August. She returned to the dock for sentencing on September 16 where lawyer Mr Gilmartin said Burnett has paid all the money back to the charity and had started gambling due to the stresses of the job. Burnett was placed on a 12-month supervision order and will have to remain within her home between 7pm and 7am for six months as part of a restriction of liberty order. She was also ordered to pay the four victims who are still living £3,000 each in compensation. | Alexander Lawrie