A Moray man who voluntarily got into the back of a police car before launching a “tirade of abuse” at officers has been warned he is “perilously close” to a prison sentence.
Bradley Morrison, from Elgin, was drinking on August 2 in the town centre when he approached the vehicle.
Yesterday Sheriff Gary Aitken suggested he mistook the car for a taxi due to his drunken state when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court for sentencing.
Fiscal depute Alex Swain said: “Police were in a marked vehicle at 10.30pm on Lossie Wynd when the accused began to approach them and, thinking he wished to speak to them, they stopped.
“After they did this the accused mumbled something about breaking a window before opening the back door and getting inside.”
Once inside the car, 24-year-old Morrison began to “thrash” around while kicking and pulling at the driver seat.
After refusing to calm down a separate police van was called to take him to the police station – where he made derogatory comments about an officer’s Welsh nationality and told personnel he “wanted to kill everyone in the room”.
Defence solicitor Matthew O’Neill described the night as happening during a “deeply shameful” period of Morrison’s life.
Sheriff Aitken said: “You are getting perilously close to when a custodial sentence will be inevitable.”
Morrison, of Muirfield Road in Elgin, was sentenced to 140 hours of unpaid work and 12 months of supervision after pleading guilty to behaving in a manner likely to cause fear or alarm and restricting, obstructing or hindering police officers.