Sheriff upset by interpreter

A sheriff wasn’t pleased when a prisoner in the dock appeared with an interpreter.

“How long have you lived in this country?” Sheriff John Montgomery asked the man. And when the female interpreter began to answer, the sheriff said: “No - I’m asking him.” It emerged that Florentine Ilie has lived in Scotland for seven year and works in a Prestwick car wash. Defence lawyer Ian Gillies added: “His English isn’t the best.”

Mr Ilie pleaded not guilty to two charges . The first says that on January 29 at Church Court in Ayr he acted in a threatening or abusive way towards his partner, punching walls, and placing her in a state of alarm. And he did so after being granted bail, on another matter, on January 15. The second charge says he punched his partner on the head, at the same date and place.

Mr Ilie, of Russell Drive, Ayr, seemed to get the message when Sheriff Montgomery denied another bail request. He will be kept in custody until a trial set for February 25.

A shopkeeper was held up at knife point and forced to hand over four- figure sum of cash in broad daylight.

The brazen blade wielding thief targeted Lifestlye Express shop and Post Office on Tam’s Brig in Ayr on Thursday about 2pm.

The thief, with his face covered his face, pulled out a knife and demanding money from the till.

Shop owner Gohar Abbas, 36, was on shift at the time,

He told the Post: “Somebody came in with a big knife and he managed to take some money