Warning as Crieff woman flouts bail conditions twice

A Strath woman who twice flouted a bail order - the first time just four days after it was imposed - was warned that the conditions were there to be abided by.

And that courts were increasingly losing patience with offenders who repeatedly ignored them.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told 23-yearold Ebony Stewart, of Alligan Crescent, Crieff, that bail wasn’t an optional extra.

“The bail conditions are imposed by the court - they aren’t free give-aways.

“This is not two for the price of one. Courts get a bit irked and a bit annoyed when people just ignore them.”

It had happened not just once but twice in Stewart’s case.

“It’s not just you,” added the sheriff. “It happens time and time and time again.

“And it really begins to get a bit annoying.”

Stewart had been freed on bail from Perth Sheriff Court on September 12 with a condition that she didn’t approach or contact Jamie Hunter in any way.

But between September 16 and 17, 2017, she was found in his company at a house in Kildrummie Terrace, Methven.

Depute fiscal Clare Kennedy said that Stewart was found by police hiding in a kitchen cupboard in Hunter’s home.

A second bail breach took place around 5pm on September 24 when police on mobile patrol in Perth city centre saw the female in Mr Hunter’s car.

Sheriff Foulis imposed a Community Payback Order, requiring her to complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the next three months, on one of the bail charges.

Sentence on the other was deferred for her good behaviour until March 21.