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.
13. Chef sent shameful images to 'schoolgirl'
A man who sent “shameful and disgusting” sexual messages to social media accounts he believed belonged to two schoolgirls avoided a jail term last month - despite offending for the second time. Daniel Schlegel posted depraved comments to the social media profiles of teenagers ‘Imogen’ and ‘Billy-Jo’ before begging one to send him naked pictures of themselves. Schlegel, 49, a chef who has since lost his job, told the second ‘schoolgirl’ she was “sexy” and demanded she send him indecent images of herself. But instead of speaking to teenage girls Schlegel, a German national, was in fact in contact with adult decoys belonging to a paedo hunter group called Elite. Members of the Scottish organisation Improved Maximum Exposure then confronted the pervert at his home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, in September 2023 before contacting the police. He pleaded guilty to attempting to indecently communicate with two children during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in August and returned to the dock for sentencing on September 30. Sheriff Keir placed Schlegel on the sex offenders register for three years and ordered him to engage with the sexual offenders rehabilitation organisation Moving Forward 2 Change. Schlegel was also placed under the supervision of the social work department for three years and was banned from having any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18 as part of a conduct requirement. Previously the court was told Schlegel had committed a similar offence against young children in his native Germany in 2020. | Alex Lawrie