These are the biggest crime stories covered by the Daily Record this week.
12:21, 10 May 2025Updated 15:02, 10 May 2025
John Etchells was jailed for five-and-a-half years
A Celtic fan who mocked the Ibrox disaster was sacked from his job and police officers stormed properties to arrest suspects in the gang war plaguing the country.
Also among the biggest crime stories we covered this week were a violent inmate who attacked a rival and slit his throat during a football match in prison.
And another car was firebombed amid the gang war being waged by a Dubai-based Mr Big and his henchmen on his Glasgow and Edinburgh based rivals.
Here’s the biggest Scottish crime stories we brought you over the last five days.
The car goes up in flames.(Image: Supplied.)MondayOAP fraudster
A fraudster was jailed for pocketing thousands of pounds in benefits she was not entitled to, it emerged. Maria Krawiec was investigated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The 70-year-old – who claimed she was disabled – was caught regularly going to the gym for fitness classes, playing badminton, driving her car, and walking her dog.
She had claimed she was unable to walk unaided and was virtually housebound and was jailed for 14 months, reduced from 18 months because she pleaded guilty at a pre-trial hearing.
Read more here.
Linda Spiers.(Image: Daily Record)Justice calls
The mother of a pregnant Scot found dead in an African hotel called for a fresh murder probe into her death in a bid to get justice. Linda Speirs urged the authorities in Ghana to reopen the case.
Her daughter, Charmain, was found lifeless in the bathroom of her room in the city of Koforidua in 2015. Her Christian preacher husband Eric Asaiah Adusah had also been staying at the Mac-Dic Royal Plaza Hotel.
He was charged with her murder but the case later collapsed, and Linda has been poring over paperwork linked to her daughter’s death 10 years on.
Read more here.
Celtic fan sacked
Darren Malloch was relieved from his position as a s a project manager with Advance Construction Scotland after mocking the victims of the Ibrox disaster during the Scottish Premiership clash between Celtic and Rangers.
He was captured on camera displaying the number 66 – the number of victims who died in the tragedy – on his phone. He then held up six fingers to opposing fans.
The shocking footage went viral on social media, prompting Police Scotland and his employers to launch investigations into the incident. Police say enquiries are ongoing.
Read more here.
TuesdayKiller husband
Kasikai Chinyanga was jailed for 18 years over the murder of his wife, Veronica Chinyanga. He attacked her in the back garden of their West Lothian home.
The 47-year-old NHS worker set upon the 42-year-old at the Broxburn property on June 9 last year, just weeks after an earlier domestic abuse case collapsed.
The mum feared he would not forgive her for reporting him to police over the earlier incident, and he repeatedly struck her with a pronged garden tool before stabbing her in the stomach with a knife.
Read more here.
Chitsidzo (Veronica) Chinyanga died following a ‘disturbance’ in Broxburn Beast cop
Married Police Scotland officer Craig Glen was unmasked as a predatory pervert who had sexually assaulted two female colleagues while on duty.
The 37-year-old touched them inappropriately in a squad car during separate incidents in December 2016 and June 2021, and also made sexualised which he tried to pass off as “banter”.
His career is now in tatters after he was convicted of two sexual assault charges and communicating indecently with the same two officers during a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Read more here.
Baby attacker
Jay Dixon was unmasked as a baby-attacking brute. The 23-year-old tried to drown the newborn in a bowl of water for changing the tot’s nappy.
He was 20 at the time of the attack on the youngster, who was just a few days old, which took place at a property in Charleston Drive, Dundee.
He has been warned that he faces an inevitable and extended jail sentence over the incident, which took place when the baby’s mother had fallen asleep after putting the infant in his Moses basket.
Read more here.
Jay DixonWednesdayCourt dodge
Annette Daniel dodged court for a second time in recent weeks as her family remains embroiled in the tit-for-tat gang war plaguing Scotland’s biggest cities.
The 63-year-old – mother of Daniel crime clan boss Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel – was due to appear for a hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, where she faces a shoplifting rap.
But she did not appear in the dock in connection with the alleged offences – stealing clothes from The White Company in the city centre’s Buchanan Street on October 12, 2023.
Read more here.
Boxer murdered
It emerged that young boxer Josh Taplin had suffered fatal slash wounds. A murder probe was launched after he was found dead at a property on Monday.
Police Scotland officers had been called to the house in question, in Caldwell Avenue, in Glasgow’s Knightswood area, amid reports of concern for a person
The 28-year-old had been slashed and one neighbour bravely battled to save him before emergency services arrived at the scene. Enquiries into his death are ongoing.
Read more here.
Josh Taplin(Image: Police Scotland)Nine witnesses
James English may call up to nine defence witnesses to give evidence in his domestic abuse trial, it emerged. He is due to go on trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
The 42-year-old YouTuber is accused of 19 offences against the woman, who is a model and influencer, and faces claims that he attacked her whilst she was pregnant.
The podcaster, of Larkhall, Lanarkshire, is also claimed to have kept control of aspects of her life including her money and contact with loved ones. He shot to fame in reality TV show Glow, and hosts the Anything Goes podcast which has 700,000 subscribers.
Read more here.
ThursdayHotel perv
Luxury hotel worker Peter Boniface was unmasked as a pervert who photographed a young child at a swimming pool. The 21-year-old leant over a cubicle to take the sordid photographs.
He committed the offence against the young child at an East Lothian swimming pool. The seven-year-old victim was getting himself dressed at the Dunbar Leisure Centre in 2022.
A member of staff was informed and reported him to the police, and officers searched his home in Kelso, in the Borders, and discovered child abuse images and videos hidden on three devices.
Read more here.
McMillan firebombed
A car belonging to David McMillan, a close pal of under siege Edinburgh gangster Mark Richardson, was firebombed as it sat parked outside his million pound home in the city.
The incident took place at around 6.30pm on Thursday, and saw the white Land Rover torched as it sat on the driveway of the Pitcairn Grove property.
The masked firebugs were caught on camera dousing the vehicle in an accelerant before fleeing the scene in what’s believed to be a Volkswagen Passat. A police probe is ongoing.
Read more here.
The burnt out vehicle after the attack.(Image: Reach PLC.)More time
Joanne Connell was given more time to sell off her assets – to pay back the money she stole from taxpayers. The crooked tax worker was granted the reprieve at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
The 37-year-old embezzled £193,000 of taxpayers’ cash while working from home In East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
She used the details of members of the public to create fake credit notes and put the cash into her own bank between April 2022 and April 2023. Prosecutors launched a £172,000 proceeds of crime action and her request for more time to pay was granted,
Read more here.
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FridaySuspects seized
Figures believed to be involved in the gang war between the Daniel crime clan and a Dubai-based Mr Big were seized during a series of dramatic dawn raids.
The Friday morning operation saw six more people arrested in connection with the trouble, which has seen people, properties and businesses targeted in firebombings and firearms attack.
Specialist cops stormed one property in Glasgow’s Barlanark area while armed with chainsaws and batons, smashing their way into the home in question at 5am.
Read more here.
Armed cops during the raid on Friday(Image: Daily Record)Crooked granny
Coleen Muirhead claimed she had stolen £1.5million from employers because she needed cash to pay of a colleague who was blackmailing her.
The 57 year-old embezzled the money from Panda Rosa Metals in Aberdeen, while employed as an admin worker on a salary of £33,000-per-year.
She was jailed for three years and three months in 2023 after she admitted her guilt, and made the blackmail claims this week during a proceeds of crime hearing, as prosecutors seek to recover £700,000 of her ill-gotten gains.
Read more here.
Throat slit
John Etchells was jailed for five-and-a-half years for slitting the throat of another inmate. He attacked his victim in Saughton prison, in Edinburgh.
The violent thug then made a phone call saying ‘don’t expect me home soon’ and boasted to prison officers about the attack. He said: “I’ll not be threatened by any rodent”.
The 31-year-old, who is currently in HMP Grampian, admitted attempting to murder 24-year-old Connor Steele on June 1 last year after approaching him from behind and striking him on the neck with a knife to his severe injury.
Read more here.