Jail for grandad who assaulted paramedic

Man struck woman trying to save his life after a drug overdose

An out-of-control grandad has admitted a month of drink and drug fuelled madness during which he assaulted a paramedic and police officer and dropped his trousers in the middle of a newsagents.

John Sword repeatedly punched the medic in the breasts while she tried to save his life after a drug overdose.

Minutes later he tried to bite the police officer at Perth Royal Infirmary but denied that could be classed as an assault, saying “I’ve nae teeth”.

It was the culmination of months of outlandish and “unacceptable” behaviour on the part of the 40-year-old.

Customers in a Crieff newsagent were the first to find themselves at the mercy of Sword’s antics as he stumbled into the High Street branch of RS McColl.

They were said to have been left “alarmed” after he let his trousers fall to the floor in the middle of the store and began rubbing and scratching his legs.

He careered around the store, battering into displays before fleeing without paying.

A couple of weeks later Sword attacked and punched a supermarket trolley attendant after he declined to give him a cash handout.

He then began following the shaken member of staff at Tesco’s Crieff Road store in Perth, before colleagues eventually came to his aid.

The most serious incident took place the following day when he was found unconscious in the street from an overdose of drugs.

A paramedic had to give him three doses of Narcan – used to reverse the effects of opiates – before he could be roused.

Far from thanking the medic for her life-saving intervention, however, he viciously attacked her, though he was strapped to a stretcher at the time.

Sword’s ranting and raving could be heard by staff inside A&E who rushed out to offer assistance. Police officers arrived within minutes.

They found him on a hospital bed, on his hands and knees and “making noises to himself”. When officers attempted to assist him he first swung a punch, which did not connect, and then tried to bite an officer on the hand.

Sword, of Cairns Court in Crieff, admitted committing a breach of the peace at RS McColl on August 3 and assaulting a man at Tesco in Perth’s Crieff Road on August 22. He also admitted assaulting a paramedic while travelling in an ambulance on the A85 between Methven and Perth on August 23 and assaulting a police officer at PRI.

Sheriff William Wood jailed Sword for 10 months and ordered him to undergo supervision and alcohol treatment upon his release.

John Sword has been jailed for 10 months after a month-long drink and drugs binge.