Suspicious behaviour by man on drugs

A man high on‘street valium’ woke a resident in a Stirling close by banging a metal pole on a wall in the early hours.

Christopher Cummings, of St Marys Wynd, had been spotted in the Johnston Avenue close with the pole by a resident wakened by the sound of loud banging early on October 7 last year.

He had admitted a charge of being found in the close in suspicious circumstances while on bail on another matter. The 50-yearold had been unable to show that he was in possession of tools or objects which were not for the purposes of theft.

On Wednesday at Stirling Sheriff Court fiscal depute Lindsey Brooks said a witness in her flat heard the sound of loud banging coming from the common close at 2.15am.

She got out of bed and and when she looked through the spy hole in the front door saw Cummings holding what looked like a crowbar beside a wooden storage box attached to a wall. She thought the accused was going to commit theft and contacted the police.

The witness watched Cummings until the police arrived at 2.30am.

On arrival officers saw Cummings walking downstairs carrying a metal pole and arrested him.

Cummings’ agent Frazer McCready told Sheriff Pino Di Emidio that a social work report prepared for the court was “favourable” and there were no cases outstanding.

The lawyer said that Cummings had taken street valium before the Johnston Avenue incident and had no recollection of what happened that morning.

Cummings had “longstanding substance misuse problems” but was engaging with the Community Alcohol and Drug Service (CADS). He is currently receiving methadone on a daily basis, added Mr McCready.

Cummings, the solicitor pointed out, was also remorseful and recognised that his behaviour had been “completely unacceptable.”

Cummings had also admitted a charge of breaching a bail condition on another matter, imposed on June 19 last year, by entering Stirling’s Murray Place the following July 4.

Sheriff Di Emidio admonished and dismissed Cummings on the charge of being in the close in suspicious circumstances and imposed a community payback order

Mr McCready had described Cummings’ breach of bail, while a sentence had been deferred for good behaviour, as “regrettable.”

Sheriff Di Emidio imposed the community payback order comprising a year’s supervision on the matter with a review set for April 29.