Drunken festival-goer ordered to pay £400 after accosting teens

A T in the Park reveller has been ordered to pay £400 compensation to four teenage girls whose weekend he ruined with his “drunken, loutish” behaviour.

Scott Rice staggered over to the group of friends and sat on one of their laps, a trial at Perth Sheriff Court heard.

He refused to budge, despite repeated demands. He then snatched one of their mobile phones and refused to give it back.

Rice told them: “I can make you do whatever I want.”

The 27-year-old was found guilty of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, likely to cause fear and alarm, on July 13, 2015.

It happened at the Strathallan Castle festival’s pink campsite shortly after Noel Gallagher’s headline set on the main stage.

Eilidh Smith, 19, told the court: “I was on the phone and he just grabbed it out of my hand.

“I got it back after a bit of force. I was getting a bit panicky though.”

She said: “It felt horrible. We were all crying.”

Student Anna Gordon, 19, said: “It felt like a lifetime, but it was probably only half an hour.

“I was so scared. If the police hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have stayed the night.

“It had been like there was a click and everything changed to this negative vibe.”

The court heard that the teenagers had approached two police officers who declined to help.

Later, a different pair of officers did agree to intervene and charged Rice.

Rice, from Garnethill Street in Glasgow, told the court he had woken up that morning feeling depressed and said he wanted to go home.

“After we had a couple of cans of cider, we felt brand new though,” he said.

Rice said he blacked out after at least two hours of drinking.

He said he did not remember the incident. Asked by fiscal depute if it was possible he had behaved in the “unpleasant and stupid” way the witnesses had described, he said: “Yes, it’s possible.”

Sheriff Linda Smith told Rice: “You took things too far. You spoiled their weekend because of your drunken behaviour and loutishness.”