Jail warning for man who launched drug-fuelled tirade at police officers

A Valium and cocainefuelled Angus man who launched a foul-mouthed tirade at police in a Montrose pub has been placed on a six- month curfew and ordered to pay restitution for an attempted attack on an officer.

Lewis Ryan delivered the volley of abuse, including the term “spastic”, after officers were called to the Lochside Bar last year, during an incident the 22-year-old can remember nothing about.

Ryan, of Glenlethnot Place, Montrose, pleaded guilty to breaching the peac e at the pub on December 30 by repeatedly shouting and swearing at the police officers in a manner aggravated by disability prejudice.

He also admitted assaulting PC Rod Ha m i l t o n at Dundee police headquarters on

December attempting him.

Forfar Sheriff Court heard that Ryan’s abuse continued at the custody suite at police headquarters.

Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said Ryan was abusing Valium, cocaine and alcohol at the time of the offences

He had previously been placed on a community payback o r d e r, was electronically tagged and subject to a curfew.

“This was committed entirely due to intoxication – he has absolutely no recollection of these e v e n t s ,” said Mr Markowski.

“That substance abuse has caught up with him and he has been left with permanent memory issues and other problems that have made him unfit for unpaid work.

“He had a flurr y of offending over a three to 31 to and butt four-month period which came to an end just after the beginning of lockdown.

“He has addressed his addictions since then.”

Sheriff Gregor Murray told Ryan: “Everything you have done fully justifies sending you to jail.

“However, this took place almost a year ago,” he added.

“You have cleaned up since then and you are making good progress on your existing order.”

Sheriff Murray placed Ryan on a community payback order with supervision for 12 months, imposed a six-month tagging order confining him to his home between 7pm and 7am and ordered him to pay a police restitution order of £400.

“I warn you that if you appear on anything similar or anything new, you will be going straight to jail,” said the sheriff.