By Paul Thornton A TEENAGER killed his girlfriend hours after she told a friend she was going to leave him, a court has heard. Stewart Blackburn, 18, started a blaze which killed Jessica McCagh at the flat which they shared in Arbroath in April this year. Gemma Moir, 20, said that the night before the [...]
By Michael MacLeod ONLY a frail pensioner seemed to care for the whereabouts of hapless ex-Scotland gaffer George Burley today (Tues). The out of favour 53 year-old has gone AWOL from his Edinburgh mansion having being kicked out by the SFA after a dismal World Cup qualifying campaign. He was last seen on Monday morning, [...]
By Andrea McCallum A CHILDREN’S hospital photographer has been cleared of child porn possession charges. Leonard Cumming, 59, was suspended from his job at The Royal Hospital for Sick Children two years ago after IT workers investigated websites being accessed from his computer. Cumming told his employers he had been accessing indecent websites as part [...]
By Andrea McCallum A SON slashed his frail dad on the neck with a knife after an argument over a council tax bill. Charles Drummond, 50, was eating dinner with his father James at the Edinburgh home they shared when he launched into a stinging verbal attack. He grabbed the knife he had been eating [...]
By Andrea McCallum A CLUBBER had his ear bitten off as he tried to break up a street-brawl. Steven Meloni, 21 was trying to restrain drunken teenager Rory Clark outside Edinburgh’s Hive nightclub. But after stepping in to stop the punch-up, Mr Meloni became the victim as 19 year-old thug Clark lashed out and chomped [...]
By Cara Sulieman THE PITFALLS of fleeting fame are being highlighted in the new festive advert from Scotland’s favourite whisky. The cheeky little star of the Famous Grouse adverts has found a furry friend in this winter’s television offering. But as this sneak-peak shows, the classy grouse pokes fun at reality TV-style fame by shunning [...]
By John Hislop TRIBUTES have been paid to Glasgow’s former top cop Sir Andrew Sloan, who has died aged 77. He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal after his five year spell overseeing Scotland’s largest force between 1986 and 1991. Current Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House said Sir Andrew “was held in high esteem and [...]
MEMBERS of the anti-Islam Scottish Defence League are planning a second protest in Scotland after claiming their Glasgow march was a “success”. And they are targeting Edinburgh for their next outing, saying they plan to march on the capital in the new year. Just around 50 members of the controversial group made it to Glasgow [...]
By Oliver Farrimond INJURED cats have been taking a new route to perfect health – by getting their paws wet. A state-of-the-art veterinary practice in Haddington, East Lothian, submerges crippled kitties in a foot of water on a treadmill to rehabilitate their injuries. One such soggy moggy is George – a 14-year-old obese cat who [...]
By Rory Reynolds THE crowning place of Scotland’s kings is to be the site of a battle for survival for one of the nation’s most endangered creatures. Scone Palace, where Robert the Bruce and Charles II were crowned king of Scotland, is to be awarded funding to battle the invading grey squirrel, in order to [...]
By Rory Reynolds A SKATER who was nearly blinded after falling face-first onto an ice rink has told how beleaguered justice secretary Kenny MacAskill saved his sight. James Scoular tripped while skating in Edinburgh and smashed his cheekbone and forearm. But the 40-year-old – who says he has a phobia of hospitals – went home [...]
By Oliver Farrimond VETERAN human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called on Alex Salmond and the SNP administration to legalise same-sex civil marriage in Scotland. He also condemned the “disproportionate influence” of the Catholic Church on the Scottish Government, saying that church leaders were “out of touch” with ordinary Catholics. Tatchell, who has campaigned on [...]
By Rory Reynolds UNDER FIRE Scotland boss George Burley looked like a man condemned leaving his Edinburgh home just hours before he was sacked. The Cumnock-born manager refused to come to the door of his house to be interviewed yesterday as speculation over his future intensified.
By John Hislop SHAMED banker Sir Fred ‘The Shred’ Goodwin will try anything to come in from the cold, even having his boiler serviced. The 51-year-old former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland has been feeling the heat since details of his £342.500 per year pension and £2.7million lump sum became public knowledge. [...]
By Andrea McCallum A FAMILY was rushed to hospital following a fire in an Edinburgh high rise flat. The three residents – which included a toddler – were treated at the scene by ambulance workers but were then taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary early this morning. Fire crews were alerted to the ground floor blaze [...]
By Andrea McCallum A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl has been bumped from an Edinburgh primary waiting list after a new family with a P1 pupil moved into a house – just 90 metres closer to the school. Logan Finlayson had been second in line for a place at James Gillespie’s Primary but now will have to remain [...]
By Rory Reynolds A HANDWRITTEN Robert Burns poem worth £30,000 is to be displayed for the first time alongside some of Scotland’s most treasured artifacts. The Battle of Sherramuir, a poem detailing the Jacobites’ fight against the king’s army at the height of the Jacobite rebellion, will be among the highlights of the Treasures exhibition [...]