Edinburgh crime news: Here is a round up of all the crime and breaking news from the Capital and the Lothians this week

Make sure you don’t miss anything – here is a round up of crime and breaking news from Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Monday

A fire chief who sexually assaulted a woman during a party thrown to celebrate three decades service has been jailed.

Derek Hill, 57, attacked the woman after barging his way into a toilet cubicle.

New figures show that assaults on police officers and staff are still above the five year average.

Over the 2021/22 period, there were 7,046 recorded incidents, including officers and staff being punched, kicked and even bitten.

Police are appealing for information after a bench in an East Lothian war memorial park was damaged.

A picnic bench, funded by the local partnership, was damaged between 5 pm on April 19 and 11.30 am the next day.

Edinburgh crime news: Here is a round up of all the crime and breaking news from the Capital and the Lothians this week

Tuesday

A man has been charged following a serious road crash in the Capital.

Police Scotland has confirmed that a 33-year-old man has been charged following a serious road crash involving a motorbike and a pedestrian on Sunday.

The pedestrian was a 13-year-old girl who was taken to hospital for treatment.

Police were called to a two-vehicle collision in East Lothian on Tuesday morning.

A man has been fined after his dog attacked a sheep while walking in the Pentland Hills.

Police Scotland have confirmed that a 55-year-old man pled guilty and was fined after his dog chased and bit a pregnant ewe in April last year while walking in Bonaly Country Park, part of the Pentland Hills Park.

Wednesday

A pair of callous crooks who subjected families to terrifying robbery ordeals in their own homes have been jailed for 19 years.

Patrick Mooney and sidekick Patrick Keenan carried out a string of and robberies across Scotland, targeting families of small business owners who they believed kept large sums of cash.

Campaigners have called for more action to boost women’s safety on public transport as new figures reveal 90 sexual assaults were committed on Scotland’s railways in five years.

Official statistics from British Transport Police (BTP) show there were 63 reports of sexual assault on ScotRail trains between 2017 and 2021.

Police have reported a driver for several driving offences, after they refused to stop for officers in West Calder.

On Tuesday, officers from Edinburgh Road Police and Dalkeith Road Police were escorting wind farm blades near West Calder, when a vehicle failed to stop.

A pursuit ensued, but eventually the vehicle was stopped. The driver was arrested on a warrant.

An Edinburgh charity’s outdoor play area is reopening after it was damaged in an incident of wilful fireraising last year.

The Yard, a charity that provides activities to disabled young people, suffered a deliberate fire in their outdoor area in December last year.

A volunteer has branded mindless vandalism at a hospital’s community garden as “a tragedy” but said she hoped it wouldn’t happen again.

Belhaven Community Garden is part of the local hospital in the area, and is lovingly tended by a group of volunteers.

Throughout the night between June 3 and June 4, vandals ripped the sides and the doors of the large polytunnel – a polythene covered frame that protects seedlings and plants growing outdoors.

Thursday

Police have established that no crime took place after investigating a report of a child being grabbed in West Lothian.

Officers were made aware of discussions on social media, which reported that the child had been grabbed in the Armadale area.

A defibrillator has been deliberately vandalised and is now out of service in Midlothian town.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident which took place between Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4.

An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fire, which blazed through a property in Clermiston on Wednesday night.

Police and firefighters were called to the blaze on Ardshiel Avenue at around 9.15pm on June 8.

Armed police were called to the scene of an attack in a city centre street which saw a man taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Emergency services were called to Niddry Street, just off the city’s famous Royal Mile, in the early hours of Wednesday following reports of a serious assault.

A fundraiser has been launched to help a local primary school rebuild their play area after it was targeted by vandals.

Colinton Primary School has been targeted several times by vandals, with the last spate causing around £2,000 worth of damage.

Friday

A 62-year-old man has died following a collision involving a black BMW and two agricultural vehicles on the A199 near Dunbar.

The fatal crash occurred on the A199 near Foxlake Adventures at around 4.15pm on Thursday, June 9.

One of the vehicles set alight, with eyewitnesses reporting seeing black smoke billowing from the scene.

Police are investigating after receiving reports of an assault in the city centre on Friday morning.

There was a continued police presence in the west of Princes Street Gardens this morning after an 18-year-old woman reported being assaulted.

A man in Edinburgh has been arrested in connection with housebreaking and motor vehicle thefts.

A Midlothian mum is appealing to those in her area who took her children’s scooters to return them, ‘no questions asked’.

“If anyone sees them, and happens to want to return them, there’ll be no questions asked, we were all young once, we all did silly things

“If anyone wants to give them back to us that would be amazing, leave them at Kings Park School.”