Caol roofer fined £315 for assault on officer

A PART-TIME roofer from Caol was fined £315 at Fort William Sheriff Court last week after admitting assaulting a police officer and trying to headbutt him.

Martin Lawrie, of Blar Mhor Road, pleaded guilty that on May 19 this year, at a previous home address in Caol, he had assaulted PC Dean Gillies in the living room of the property.

Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald heard how on the day in question both Lawrie and his mother had been drinking and a row had broken out between the two of them.

Police had been alerted and it was then that Lawrie had assaulted the officer.

‘Emotions were running high,’ explained Mr Melrose.

Sentencing Lawrie, Sheriff MacDonald said she had listened carefully to what Mr Melrose had said on his behalf about the circumstances surrounding the offence.

Lawrie, 28, was also appearing for sentencing on two other offences, for which sentencing had been deferred for him to be of good behaviour.

These both involved instances of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting and swearing - one offence being at Caol Community Centre on April 22, 2016, while the other was at the Co-op store in Corpach.

This latter offence, on February 26 last year, also involved threats of violence towards an employee at the store and both offences were committed while on bail.

Last week Sheriff MacDonald heard that Lawrie had indeed been of good behaviour and she admonished him on both counts.