Lured cops into attack

A boy who lured police to his home then attacked them with scissors has been locked up for two years.

The 16-year-old launched the “frenzied”assault after pretending in a phone call to be his mum and begging for assistance.

Five cops tried to subdue him but using incapacitating spray and whacking him with their batons “had little or no immediate effect”, fiscal Michael Macintosh told Hamilton Sheriff Court.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted assaulting the officers at his home in Larkhall on June 8.

Mr Macintosh said police got a call at 2.30am from someone claiming to be the boy’s mum, asking for help because he was being aggressive.

The woman was at home at the time and overheard her son make the call. She saw he was under the influence of alcohol or some other substance and noticed a pair of scissors in his pocket.

When PCS Kevin Mcghee and Brian Mckinlay turned up she warned them about the weapon and said her son was“kicking off”.

He confronted them on the stairs and lashed out with the scissors and a sock stuffed with metal. The two men had minor cuts and scratches. Reinforcements were called and eventually the boy was subdued.

Ian Scott, defending, said the teenager had already spent four months in Polmont YOI, waiting to appear in court, and suggested some form of community sentence which would allow social workers to supervise him.

He told the court:“without the intervention of illicit substances, what happened here would not have made a lot of sense.

“He has a very troubled family background. Social workers don’t want to send him back to Larkhall, where there are a number of influences on him.”

Sheriff Marie Smart expressed concern at the severity of the attack on the cops. One officer believed the boy had aimed at his neck as he lunged with the scissors.

She told the boy:“this is a serious offence and there is no alternative to custody but because of your guilty plea I can reduce the sentence from three years to two, backdated to June 11.”