Judge tells man who mocked him online: Go to jail, Lol

A JUDGE told a thug who had boasted online of ignoring his community service order that he was “laughing out loud” as he sentenced him to prison.

David Newlands, 24, had twice refused to carry out the 150 hours’ work he had been sentenced to after attacking a vulnerable man last year.

But after hearing that Newlands had boasted about his behaviour on Facebook, Judge Norman Ritchie jailed him for nine months and told him: “As they say, Lol.”

Newlands, from Glasgow, had called Ivor Miller, who has learning difficulties, a “beast” and chased him until he threw himself out of a window. Judge Ritchie told him to perform unpaid work for assault but he failed to do it.

After he was given a second chance to comply at the High Court in the city, Newlands, writing phonetically in broad Glaswegian, posted to his Facebook followers: “A got a high court conviction n they never sent me to jail. Instead gave me a community order. Told them to stick it up ther pipe so got sent back to court n what do they dae? The judge says ‘Mr Newlands I would refer to you as an idiot’... n then what does he dae? He geez me it again.”

He was recalled to court on June 22, and again told to carry out the community service. He then posted online: “F--- the courts polis and community service still no daen it!!!”

Probation officers preparing presentence reports for the court spotted Newlands’ taunts on social media and raised them with the judge.

John McElroy, defending, told the court his client had been drunk when he wrote the posts, adding: “He then became not just an idiot, but an idiot who drank and wrote on Facebook.”

Judge Ritchie told Newlands: “It’s always interesting to see a different view on sentencing as in ‘I’m out bro, easy’. As they say, Lol.”

The BBC reported that the judge added: “I gave you two chances. You didn’t take the chances.

“I hope you don’t think I’m doing this out of anger. In truth it enlivened what was otherwise a dull day.”

He ordered that Newlands, who is now serving an eight-month jail term for a separate offence of assault and breach of the peace, have his sentence extended by nine months.