Montrose man must do better

A domestic offender who escaped jail by a “whisker” has been warned by a sheriff to improve his attitude towards a community order imposed by the court.

Adam King, 39, of Glenogil Street, Montrose, was placed on a year-long community payback order after previously pleading guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and making derogatory remarks to his ex-partner on March 24 at his home address.

He had also earlier admitted breaching the conditions of two community payback orders (CPO) imposed by the court.

In September he was told his excuses for the breaches were “fairly pathetic”.

King appeared before Sheriff Derek Reekie at Forfar for a review of the CPO, just six weeks into its duration.

He is also serving a six-month restriction of liberty order with a tag which keeps him confined to his home from 7pm to 7am daily.

The sheriff told him: “I can see you are attending the appointments, but there is concern about your attitude towards the need for this.

“I want to remind you that this is not your choice, it is a court order that you must comply with.”

Deferring sentence, Sheriff Reekie told King: “You need to do more than pay lip service to this, you need to engage with this process and if you do it may be that we are able to continue without a further review.”