Council worker fined £600 after supermarket altercation

A council worker from Fort William has been fined £600 for resisting arrest and behaving threateningly towards police officers who found him sleeping outside a supermarket.

Iain Roy, 34, appeared at Fort William Sheriff Court last Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to obstructing police in their duty and uttering threats of violence at them. He also plead guilty to possessing cannabis resin.

Roy, of Camanachd Crescent, was found asleep outside the town’s Morrisons supermarket by police officers at 10.10pm on December 8 2018 after they received a call from concerned passers-by.

The court heard Roy had been drinking at a friend’s house and was on his way home when he stopped near the entrance of the building.

Procurator Fiscal Martina Eastwood said when officers tried to rouse Roy he became hostile, argumentative and refused to disclose his personal details before directing ‘a tirade of abuse’ at the police. When he was told he was under arrest, Roy resisted and officers had to apply handcuffs, at which point he began thrashing and kicking out with his legs. He was taken to Fort William Police Station where police searched him and found a small quantity of cannabis resin.

Defence solicitor Hamish Melrose said Roy acknowledged he needed to control his drinking and had ‘more or less not been out’ since.

‘This was unacceptable behaviour,’ Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Roy. ‘These police officers were just trying to help you. Some of the language was appalling.’