Hogmanay party yob given supervision

A Hamilton yob who threw a plant pot through the windscreen of a VW Passat belonging to a pal’s dad and made violent threats to the man and his son while brandishing a knife has escaped a jail term.

Dylan Edwards (20) was placed on supervision and ordered to carry out unpaid work last week at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

During Dylan Edwards’ trial last month, a witness told the court that a row had developed between the accused and Luke Cushley’s dad Paul.

The argument was said to have flared over a bathroom light being left on at the Cushleys’ Marswood Green home in the early hours of Hogmanay last year.

Edwards had shouted and swore in the Marswood Green house during the New Year get-together there and made threats of violence before leaving and returning with a knife.

He had also repeatedly struck the Passat with a plant pot and damaged it.

And Edwards later tried to strike Luke Cushley on the body with a knife and struggled with him before attempting to bite him. He also tried to strike Paul Cushley with a knife and struggled with him.

At the outset of the trial last week, Edwards denied charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, maliciously damaging the Volkswagen, having a knife in a public place and assaulting Luke Cushley and Paul Cushley to their injury. He also lodged special defences of self-defence and incrimination, stating that the Cushleys had attacked him and Dillon Horne had thrown the plant pot through the Passat’s windscreen.

But on the second day of the trial, Edwards’ lawyer had indicated that matters had been resolved and Edwards tendered guilty pleas to the charges of threatening and violent behaviour, maliciously damaging the VW car, possession of a knife and assaulting the Cushleys.

The assault charges had been amended and left out mention of Edwards punching Paul Cushley on the head, lashing out at him with his hands and attempting to bite him.

References to repeatedly threatening to kill Paul and Luke Cushley were also omitted.

At an earlier hearing, Edwards had admitted charges of driving a car without insurance and failing to provide two specimens of breath for analysis.

Not guilty pleas had been accepted to charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by struggling with police officers, driving a car without an MOT certificate, failing to give police officers information about the driver of a vehicle and failing to co-operate with a preliminary breath test.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court last Friday, Sheriff Thomas Millar imposed a community payback order. It required that Edwards undergoes 18 months’ supervision and carries out 200 hours’ unpaid work.