Mike Tavendale: Last News

A Scots woman hid her financial assets from the local authority and benefits agency in order to con taxpayers out of more than £30,000. Marie van den Berg, 57, secreted away an inheritance from the benefits agency and has now pled guilty to two substantial fraud charges at Perth Sheriff Court.

Get the latest Scottish crime and courts news sent straight to your inbox with our Criminal Record newsletter.A pensioner, pushed to the ground in a communal garden, is to get £200 compensation, despite regarding the area as “her personal fiefdom.”Lawyer Mike Tavendale told Perth Sheriff Court the 70-year-old was the “author of her own misfortune” after she armed herself with a washing pole and approached John McLeish from behind.He added that in his 30-40 years’ experience of legal work: “I’m surprised something like this has ended up in the sheriff court.“It does appear completely over the top“The way she acted was certainly not faultless.”He urged that his client, 55-year-old McLeish, of Bank Street, Blairgowrie, be admonished on an