JEWELLERY and bank cards were stolen from a property in Gordonville Road, Inverness on Saturday evening.

POLICE have arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with a sneak-in theft in the Dalneigh area of Inverness last night.

A CITY councillor is facing allegations he obtained nearly £44,000 in council tax benefits and income support by making fraudulent claims between 1999 and 2008 to council tax officers and the Department of Work and Pensions.

John Holden (62), of Teal Avenue and a councillor for Inverness South, has been the subject of a lengthy investigation by Northern Constabulary fraud officers.

A 36 YEAR-old Inverness musician appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court on Wednesday in connection with an alleged incident in Baron Taylor's Street in the early hours of last Friday morning.

AN Inverness man stabbed a 15-year-old at a Merkinch party and left him permanently scarred.

THE opening of a newly-refurbished supermarket has been delayed.

A TEENAGER carried out a bottle attack on a man who was visiting a shop from supported accommodation run by New Craigs Hospital.

WESTLIFE fans stranded for hours in the cold following Saturday's concert had to be given emergency blankets by ambulance staff, with some revellers ferried home by police.

A YOUNG man has been found dead in his flat in Inverness.

FIVE shop workers had to be rescued by firefighters after they got trapped in their store because the metal shutters stuck shut.

COMMUNITIES throughout the Highlands are being encouraged to take the fight to the drug traffickers by shopping those involved in cannabis farms.

POLICE will be targeting drivers and passengers who fail to wear their seatbelts tomorrow (Wednesday).

THOUSANDS of pounds worth of chainsaws have been stolen from Yarwood Machinery in Inverness.

A FORMER Inverness garage proprietor is behind bars after being convicted of a series of indecency charges involving underage girls, and also of plying some of them with drink.

Pervy pensioner Ranald Matheson (69), of Balvaird Terrace, Muir of Ord, was found guilty by a jury at Dingwall Sheriff Court, on a total of 16 counts, 12 of lewd and libidinous behaviour and four of supplying alcohol to underage children.

A MAN has been arrested in the London area following an incident in the city centre on Friday.

HARRY Potter actor Timothy Spall and his wife, Shane, are filming on Loch Ness today as part of their adventures in a new documentary.

AN area of Baron Taylor's Street in the centre of Inverness has been cordoned off by police this morning (Friday).

WESTLIFE fans gearing up for the boy band's show at Cawdor Castle have been stunned to hear there will be no shuttle buses for the gig attracting 12,000 revellers.

A WARNING has been issued by police to the public to be on their guard when using automated telling machines to retrieve cash.

A FORMER Inverness garage boss has admitted having sex with three mothers of young girls he is accused of indulging in acts of indecency with and plying with drink.

A COMPLAINT of sexual abuse by a pervert against a schoolgirl went uninvestigated by police, it was claimed this week.

A PERVERT pensioner this week admitted sexually abusing nine girls over a 20-year period.

A MAN was jailed for six months for an attack with a bottle in a city centre car park.

A MAN pestered his ex-partner with over 30 silent phone calls in the space of a month.

AN Inverness-born chef has won an amazing accolade from one of the food world's harshest critics.

A HIGHLAND MSP has repeated calls for control over drink driving legislation to be devolved, after reports that the UK Government no longer intends to reduce the drink drive limit because of the impact on rural communities.

FIRE-hit Culloden Academy will re-open to all pupils tomorrow (Thursday), Highland Council has confirmed.

CULLODEN Academy in Inverness will remain closed tomorrow (Wednesday) following an early morning fire in its kitchen area.

The school was forced to shut today (Tuesday), following the blaze which happened at 6.11am.

POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a 31-year-old woman was assaulted by two men on Saturday night.

POLICE are advising motorists and pedestrians of increased traffic flow in the Nairn area tomorrow (Saturday) due to the Nairn Highland Games.

A SHERIFF told a gang of youths they behaved like a "feral mob" when they attacked an innocent man and his tiny Jack Russell terrier in Inverness.

22-year-old James Anderson was jailed for seven months for his part in the unprovoked attack in Alexander Place in April of this year.

A ROMANIAN man obtained the bank details of 45 Inverness customers after fixing card-reading devices to two busy cash machines in Inverness.

MOTORISTS in the Raigmore area of Inverness will face delays and disruption when King Duncan's Road is closed overnight on Wednesday to allow for re-surfacing work to be carried out by the Highland Council.

AN off-duty firefighter who rescued a disabled man from a neighbouring burning flat was yesterday (Wednesday) received a prestigious bravery award.

A FORMER city businessman took two young girls on a camping trip to an isolated beauty spot where a sexual encounter took place, a jury was told this week.

IT'S almost panto time again and Eden Court Theatre bosses want to hear from talented local youngsters to take part in this year's show.

NEIGHBOURS have been left mystified after a squad of police broke down the front door of an empty Inverness flat to carry out a night time raid - just a week after officers were present when the last person to live there was thrown out.

THOUSANDS of people in flood-hit Pakistan have received emergency food supplies from Highland aid charity Blythswood Care.

A DRUNK driver who overturned a friend's car tried to do a runner when he heard police sirens as he was being treated by paramedics at the scene of the accident last weekend.

AN elderly woman fell into the River Nairn near the town harbour today about 1pm.

A MOTORCYCLIST died in a road accident near Drumnadrochit at the weekend.

A 48-YEAR-old man who died while in police custody on Friday has been named as Gerard McNally.

POLICE are advising members of the public in the Inverness area to be aware of increased traffic in the area around the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Stadium on Saturday when the club's first SPL match of the season kicks off.

TRAIN passengers will face disruptions as a £3 million enhancement scheme on the railway line between Inverness and Aberdeen is set to get under way this weekend.

A MAJOR alert was sparked at Raigmore Hospital following what has been described as a chemical leak by members of staff.

Calls to the Highland News from workers at the Inverness hospital claimed seven people, including patients, collapsed in the physiotherapy department.

A FORMER city businessman appeared in court this week on a catalogue of indecency charges, including bathing young girls in wheelie bins full of water.

HIGHLAND Council is to carry out essential repair work which will affect pedestrian access on Ardross Street and Castle Street in Inverness.

INVERNESS businessman David Sutherland has made a personal donation to help bring home the body of a young Inverness woman who died in Australia last month.

HUNDREDS of people in the Inverness area have been caught watching TV without a licence during the first six months of 2010.

A TEENAGER who was shouting and swearing whilst boozed up in the middle of the day was banned from purchasing alcohol for six months.

A SEARCH is on to the find local talent to star in a special one-off live performance taking place at Scotland's Housing Expo.

A SCHEME to generate money to build new council houses by leasing existing properties as they become vacant will mean low-income families paying up to 25 per cent more in rent than other council tenants a community councillor has warned.