News / In brief for 11 May 2011
Jailed for child porn
A COMPUTER expert who was arrested in Shetland after almost 600,000 indecent images and video clips of children were found in his Edinburgh flat last June was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Yeoman Smith, aged 35, of Livingston Place, was attending his mother’s funeral in the isles when police acted after a friend of his found a children’s clothing catalogue and a bag of computer discs in a hidden cupboard.
Smith, a first time offender, admitted downloading the images from the internet, telling the court he had turned to pornography due to stress. One of the video clips showed him acting indecently in front of a five year old girl.
Lord Uist jailed him for 25 months and ordered he be supervised for three years on his release. He will also be on the sexual offenders register for the next 10 years.
Fish shop closes
HUNTERS Fish Shop on Main Street, Scalloway, is to close its doors on 27 May with the loss of five jobs.
The company, which abandoned its fish van service last year, has blamed high fuel prices and a lack of support from the council with whom it has a contract to supply fish.
However the 15 staff employed at the Blacksness processing plant, who ship white fish and scallops south, will continue with their jobs.
Alarm bells
MEMBERS of the Shetland external transportation forum are concerned with the slow progress being made getting the tendering process for the northern isles ferry contract under way.
The new contract to supply the lifeline ferry service to Shetland and Orkney will have to be in place by 6 July next year, 14 months from now.
Shetland Islands Council’s ferry services manager Ken Duerden said alarm bells were starting to ring “with regards to the lack of progress” and the amount of time left.
Completing the tendering process for the last ferry contract took more than two years, however the government has already indicated that there would be no extension to the current contract.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -
- Remove non-local ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
