Blade man hurled abuse at cops

An aggressive 40-year-old man unleashed a volley of abuse at police after they challenged him just weeks into the coronavirus lockdown.

Matthew Piper was waiting for a bus just yards from Perth Police HQ, the sheriff court was told.

And when officers searched his rucksack, they discovered a multi-purpose tool with two locking blades.

The accused, of Lumsden Crescent, Almondbank, was fined a total of £500 after pleading guilty to two charges.

He admitted having the item in Perth’s Barrack Street on April 20, 2020 and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by repeatedly shouting and swearing.

Not guilty pleas were accepted to further charges of resisting PCs John Scott and Craig McLeod by continually tensing his arms in a bid to prevent handcuffs being applied and contravening COVID regulations by not staying in his home address.

The court heard that police were on routine patrol when their attention was drawn to the accused.

They approached and asked him what he was doing and he replied: “What does it f***ing look like - f*** off.

“It’s got nothing to do with you. I don’t have to tell you anything. You’ll have to arrest me.”

A search was conducted of his rucksack and the bladed multi-tool was found in one of the compartments.

He told officers:“I need it for hiking.”

Solicitor Jamie Baxter said:“This was an incident which got out of hand, from the accused’s perspective.

“He had only come into Perth for shopping and was waiting for the bus to return home.

“He didn’t like the way the police were questioning him - he wasn’t doing anything wrong,”maintained the lawyer.

He accepted he swore at them but he suffers from “various ailments”and felt the officers were coming “too close to him”.

The accused will pay the penalty at £50 a month from his benefits.