Jail for Hallglen man who assaulted police officer

John Lawrie was drunk when officers arrived at Colonsay Terrace, Hallglen, on June 30.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard last Thursday they were there in response to residents complaining about the noise he was making.

Procurator fiscal depute Graham McLachlan said: “They were up and their lights were on and the accused was acting in the manner they had described, swearing and making threats. He was only wearing shorts at the time. As officers approached, he made threats to them and as they tried to arrest him he assaulted one of them.”

When Lawrie, from 6 Colonsay Terrace, first appeared in court he had sentence deferred for reports and released on bail, but police were called to the area again on August 4 to arrest him again for similar bad behaviour.

His lawyer claimed that the collapse of a relationship was to blame for Lawrie’s actions.

He told the court: “Four months before the first incident he had broken up with his partner. It was difficult for him and he did not take it well. He has not seen his son since then and used alcohol as a coping mechanism. There have also been mental health issues. He does not have a recollection of what he did, but takes full responsibility for it and accepts it was totally unacceptable.

“Alcohol has had a major impact on his lifestyle, but he has now taken advice from his GP on the issue and since then his alcohol consumption has significantly reduced.”

The lawyer added Lawrie accepted he might be facing custody, but if a community based sentence was an option he was willing to co-operate and do unpaid work.

Sheriff John Mundy made it clear however that was not going to happen.

Jailing him for a total of six months on all charges he told Lawrie: “The charges from June 30 are too serious to permit anything other than a custodial sentence being imposed.”