A man who threatened police officers with “a cartel death” and told them “your family will burn” has been spared jail at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Malcolm Watson – who the court was told is a “very pleasant gentleman” when sober – had already been forcibly removed from a city centre supermarket, assaulting a woman in the process.
During his journey to the police station, Watson, 38, made a number of comments, which were acknowledged by his own solicitor to be “abhorrent”.
Watson admitted two charges of threatening behaviour and one of assault in relation to the incident on December 29 2023.
Fiscal depute Adelle Gray told the court that, on that date, a member of doorstaff on the way to her job at Highlander on Church Street received a call from staff at the nearby Co-op advising they had a male who was refusing to leave the premises and seeking her assistance.
The woman went to the store and saw Watson shouting at a security officer – becoming “more and more angry”.
‘Angry’ man assaulted woman
As she helped to remove him from the premises, Watson struggled with her, struck her on the body, seized her by the body and pulled her backward.
An officer in plain clothes, who had just finished their shift, spotted the pair struggling and stepped in to help.
Police were also contacted using a Shop Safe radio and Watson was detained.
On the way to the police station he made threats to the officers, telling them calling one a “disabled f***er” and saying: “I’m going to break your jaw.”
He made threats against several generations of their families and told them: “You are getting a cartel death” and “The Albanians are going to smash your face in.”
And he told the officers: “Down the line your family will burn.”
‘Abhorrent and stupid’
Solicitor Clare Russell, for Watson, acknowledged that her client had made “abhorrent and, quite frankly, stupid comments”.
She said: “Police or members of the public should not be subjected to and of the behaviour to which he has pled guilty.”
Ms Russell told the court: “He has accepted full responsibility and apologises in his report” adding that “when sober” her client was “a very pleasant gentleman”.
Sheriff Gary Aitken placed Watson, of Lochaber Road, Fort William. on a community payback order with 18 months supervision and ordered him to complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the community, as a direct alternative to a custodial sentence.