Man jailed for crime spree on two-month long bender

A POSTER boy for the Scottish Government’s minimum alcohol price policy has been jailed for a crime spree committed during a two-month long bender.

Darren Oakes attacked police, made death threats, issued racist jibes and made his neighbours’ lives a misery during the drinkfuelled campaign.

Oakes was jailed for nine months after previously telling a court the SNP’s flagship policy had changed his life. Oakes had proclaimed himself the first person to have been “saved” by the minimum pricing policy when he told Perth Sheriff Court he’d turned his life around.

But the court heard he had fallen spectacularly off the wagon in May and had continued offending through until July.

Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney said that on May 20 Oakes was arrested and told officers he was “going to burn their houses down.”

While he was being charged, he was verbally abusive to the police.

On June 20 Oakes was shouting and swearing out the window of his Perth flat at his neighbours Maria Hughes and William Gilpin and a number of children.

When he was being charged at Dundee police station, he was abusive to one officer, made remarks about her husband, and said he hoped her kids died.

On July 1 he called his neighbour a “bitch” and five days later he attacked PC Robert Roger by throwing a cup of liquid at his head and body.

Oakes, 46, of Leslie Court in Perth, was jailed for nine months for the four offences which took place during his 2020 summer bender.

He also admitted lashing out with his arms to try to break free from police on October 18 last year, and shouting, swearing and making racist threats on January 28 this year.