Two men have been fined after an Inverness city centre hotel was vandalised and an employee was threatened.
Ashley Walker, 27, and Nathan Aspden, 20, had asked to use the toilet at the Mercure Hotel in the early hours of the morning.
But the pair became confrontational when they couldn’t provide their room number and were asked to leave.
Walker threatened a staff member and Aspden smashed a mirror.
The pair, who both live in the Leeds area, were not present at Inverness Sheriff Court, where solicitor Patrick O’Dea entered guilty pleas on their behalf.
Walker admitted threatening or abusive behaviour, while Aspden pled guilty to willfully or recklessly destroying or damaging property belonging to another.
‘Threats he was going to knock him out’
Fiscal depute Karen Poke told the court that it was around half past midnight on March 22 of this year when the pair rang the bell of the hotel’s front entrance in Church Street several times.
A member of staff opened the door and the pair “asked to use the toilet” but refused to provide a room number when asked and walked past the worker into the building.
A short time later, the hotel employee went to check on the pair and was asked for a towel.
He again requested their room number but was given an invalid answer.
Walker and Aspden were then asked to leave the premises by the man, at which point Walker “made threats that he was going to knock him out”.
A mirror was smashed
The pair then crowded the staff member in a threatening manner, causing him to retreat to the reception area and contact police.
While this was happening, Aspden began to vandalise the male toilets, where a mirror was smashed.
The pair were later traced by police on Baron Taylor’s Street, where Walker began to shout and swear at officers.
Mr O’Dea confirmed that the pair were both in full-time employment.
Sheriff Gary Aitken fined Walker, of Collin Road, Killingbeck, £640 and ordered Aspden, of Rathmell Road, Leeds, to pay compensation of £400.
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