A man who kicked off in a town’s Royal British Legion before assaulting the police officers who turned up to arrest him has avoided jail.
Brett Sinclair, 30, of Woodend Terrace, Grantown-on-Spey, was instead ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work at his sentencing for a string of offences including assault and assaulting a police constable.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Sinclair went to the establishment to have a drink with colleagues but ended up “very heavily under the influence of alcohol”.
Fiscal Depute David Morton told the court that Sinclair began to act in an aggressive manner, shouting, swearing and “uttering offensive remarks towards anyone and everyone”.
Bar customers and staff initially attempted to reason with Sinclair but he had to be restrained, and it was then he carried out the first assaults by headbutting a man and punching a woman in the face.
Staff shut Sinclair outside
Staff had to shut Sinclair outside, where he went on to repeatedly headbutt the glass door of the bar.
Police were called and arrested Sinclair who then assaulted one officer with a kick and another with a head butt before they managed to take him to Burnett Road police station in Inverness.
On arrival there a third member of staff received a kick to the groin as they helped to transfer Sinclair to the custody suite.
‘A disgraceful loss of control’
Solicitor Matthew O’Neill told the court that Sinclair had become upset after losing his jacket while out drinking with colleagues.
He said his client’s behaviour was “a disgraceful loss of control” and added that he was “ashamed and upset at how he behaved on that evening”.
Handing down the sentence of 300 hours unpaid work, Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Sinclair: “You are right to express your shame at that behaviour, because that was appalling behaviour.”
