Blairgowrie towncentre

Womanhad fourknivesin

A woman confronted a group of men in a Blairgowrie street while armed with four knives, Perth Sheriff Court was told last week.

And just weeks later, 32-year-old Aubrey Hurley, said to have alcohol and drug issues, repeatedly plunged an eight-inch-long blade into expartner’s sofa.

The incidents led to her being jailed for a total of 10-and-a-half months.

The accused, of Coach Road, Coupar Angus, also flouted a bail order by turning up at her former boyfriend’s flat and she was then caught with heroin at her own home on Tuesday – the night before she was due in court on the knife charges.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Neil Bowie told her: “The possession of knives in a public place is extremely serious.

“The only appropriate sentence is a custodial one.”

Hurley also had a four-year Non-Harassment Order imposed, banning her from contacting or approaching her ex in any way.

She was caught with the four knives in Glenshee Drive, Rattray, on April 1, and also admitted damaging the couch – and a table – at her former boyfriend’s house in Blairgowrie’s Glenalmond Road on May 19.

She further pled guilty to putting her ex in a state of fear and alarm at his home the same day.

Depute fiscal Andrew Harding said that Hurley had approached the four men and began “talking incoherently”.

He added: “They felt she was under the influence. They couldn’t make sense of her.”

She was later seen crossing a car park and as the men walked towards her, they saw she was holding four knives – “two in each hand,” explained the fiscal.

The men “backed away” and when police arrived on the scene they also saw her with the blades.

The damage to Mr the sofa took place when she went to collect her possessions after the relationship ended a fortnight earlier.

Hurley further admitted flouting a May 27 bail order by going to the man’s flat on June 1, and being in possession of heroin at her home later the same day.

The court heard that police seized a bag of brown powder, which later tested positive for the class A drug.

It weighed two grammes and was valued at £70.

Solicitor Lucy Boylen said the incident with the four knives took place after she had been threatened with a crowbar.

“She is a vulnerable young woman and clearly has mental health difficulties which might have been brought on by alcohol and drug misuse.”

Hurley had gone to her ex’s home by taxi on Tuesday after injuring her ankle and he had contacted an ambulance for her.

The relationship was described as “abusive” on both sides but it was now over and there was no objection to the non-harassment order.

Sheriff Bowie also ordered the knives to be forfeited.