Sheriff tells Langlees COVID-19 rule breaker to "drink himself to death at home"

Robert Adams (45) was branded “a disgrace” for his behaviour which put “everyone at risk, at a time of national crisis".

Appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court yesterday, Adams, Torridon Avenue, Langlees, admitted breaching regulation eight of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions Scotland)

Regulations 2020 by “consuming alcohol, becoming intoxicated, and going to sleep in a public place" in Union Road, Camelon on May 4.

The court heard Adams had been released only hours earlier from the cells of Glasgow Sheriff Court, where he had been held for a lockdown breach on May 2, to which he pled guilty and was fined £120.

Police officers found Adams in a drunken haze at 10.55pm on Monday.

Katie Cunningham, procurator fiscal depute, said: “He was extremely intoxicated, with a bottle of wine in his possession and asleep on some grass. When he was awoken he couldn't provide a reason for being out in public, other than he was walking from his mother's house.”

Defence solicitor Virgil Crawford Adams' Saturday lockdown offence had occurred after he caught a train from Falkirk, intending to visit his mother, who looks after his finances, in Camelon, but fell asleep and ended up in Glasgow.

When staff at Glasgow Queen Street Station refused to let him catch the train back to Camelon, because he had no return ticket and no money, he flagged down a police car and was arrested for being away for his home without reasonable excuse.

Mr Crawford said when Adams returned to Camelon after his release from Glasgow he got money from his mother, purchased alcohol and got drunk again.

Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC said Adams had been given two fixed penalty notices for breaching the lockdown in Falkirk on April 19, another in Falkirk on April 23 and again on April 25, then another in Glasgow on May 1 – followed by the lockdown offence that went to court, relating to a breach of regulations in Glasgow on May 2 and then the latest in Camelon on May 4.

Sheriff Gilchrist told Mr Crawford: “He has put you at risk of the virus, he has put police officers at risk of the virus, he's had five fixed penalties and now two convictions in the space of two weeks.

“Is this man determined to spread the virus among other people, or is his just an idiot?”

Mr Crawford said: "I think it's probably the latter. Because of his longstanding abuse of alcohol there are certain affects on his brain. Most offences I have seen of breaches of lockdown involving alcohol involve people drinking in groups.

“He is always on his own."

Sheriff Gilchrist said: “Why doesn't he stay at home and get his mother to buy him drink and drink himself to death at home rather than putting members of the public at risk?”

He fined Adams £520 and ordered him to pay it at £100 a fortnight, rather than the £10 fortnightly instalments Mr Crawford suggested on his client's behalf.

Sheriff Gilchrist said: “He's got no outgoings, apart from spending money on drink.”

When Mr Crawford suggested if Adams did not have money for drink, he always ended up stealing it, Sheriff Gilchrist added: “If he ends up stealing it he'll go to jail – which is where he should be for this.

“He's endangering the public, and clearly doesn't care.”

Turning his attention to Adams, Sheriff Gilchrist said: “You're a disgrace. It's a disgrace that at this time of national crisis you're prepared to put everybody around you at risk on apparently a daily basis.”