An Aberdeen University student has avoided a prison sentence after he came home drunk and tried to force his way into the bedrooms of two females.
Calum Urquhart, 23, returned home to his Spring Gardens student halls following a night of heavy drinking and repeatedly tried to break down the doors of the women’s digs.
The 23-year-old began striking the bedroom doors in the early hours of the morning, breaking the lock of one and terrifying the student who was inside.
As police arrived, Urquhart then violently assaulted several officers as they tried to take him into custody.
Sheriff William Summers described the student’s actions towards his female flatmates as “deplorable”.
Student tried to use kitchen utensil to enter rooms
Fiscal depute Alan Townsend told the court that on March 3 2025, Urquhart had gone into Aberdeen city centre to meet friends and had returned at around 2am in a highly intoxicated state.
He made a lot of noise as he re-entered the accommodation and there were other males with him.
Urquhart then began to try to open one of the bedroom doors of one of the female students within the block, while demanding to be let in and stating: “I’ll f****** kill you.”
This caused the young woman inside to become very concerned, the fiscal depute said.
Unable to get the door open, Urquhart then proceeded to go to another female student’s door and attempted to force it open.
“The accused remained there for a short time before going to the communal kitchen,” Mr Townsend said.
“He then tried once again to open the first complainer’s door using an unknown item.
“He then went back to the second complainer’s door and hit it repeatedly, causing the lock to come away from the door.”
A member of building security appeared and told Urquhart to get away from the door, which he did, and the police were called.
Accused turned violent with police
When the police attended the scene, they found Urquhart in his room and heavily under the influence, with security informing officers that he could no longer stay within the block.
Once outside his room, Urquhart turned aggressive, kicking items and lashing out as the officers tried to move him along the hallway.
He was advised to stop his behaviour, but instead struck one officer with his knee.
Urquhart was formally arrested and as he was led out of the building, he attempted to kick a female officer to the head and body and before throwing his head back, striking a male officer on his head.
That officer suffered headaches as a result and was required to be sent home early from duty.
In the dock, Urquhart pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and one charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause fear and alarm by swearing, uttering threats and kicking two doors and breaking the lock on one.
‘You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself’
Defence solicitor Christopher Maitland told the court that during this incident his client was “obviously extremely intoxicated”.
“That isn’t an excuse, but it is a reason why he behaved in this way,” the solicitor said, adding that Urquhart had been assaulted while out in the city centre that night.
“While that had nothing to do with the people in the flat, he seems to have blamed them in some way,” Mr Maitland said.
“Mr Urquhart is ashamed of his behaviour and feels regret and remorse for what happened – he hopes this is a one-off incident.”
Mr Maitland also confirmed that Urquhart had been moved out of his current student halls to a different location.
Sheriff Summers told Urquhart: “Your behaviour on this occasion was deplorable and you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.
“But you appear before the court with no previous convictions, and it appears this incident is out of character.”
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Summers made Urquhart, of Ythan Terrace, Ellon, subject to a community payback order with supervision and ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.