A yob once branded “Scotland’s youngest alcoholic” has been warned he could face jail after claiming he had Covid and spitting on a police officer.
Lee Dyce, 35, also produced a knife at one point during the dramatic incident on Oldtown Road in Inverness, forcing officers to retreat.
Dyce told police, who had attended at the request of the ambulance service to deal with a woman who needed medical attention, that he had Covid before pushing an officer in the chest.
He later spat on an officer’s forehead at hospital, where he had been taken because of his drunken condition.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard the incident happened on August 14 2021, when police were called to a house in the Hilton housing estate by the ambulance service because a woman needed medical attention.
‘Alcohol has been a problem for him from an early age’
But officers had to call in reinforcements to deal with Dyce when he confronted them at the scene.
Officers had been told there was also a positive Covid case at the address from which they could hear loud screaming.
Fiscal depute Martina Eastwood told the court: “Dyce came out and said he had tested positive for Covid. He pushed one officer in the chest and then went back into the property.”
Ms Eastwood told Sheriff Sara Matheson that Dyce returned with a knife but after the police retreated and told him to put it down, he went back inside and came out again without the blade.
‘Time to turn his life around’
She added: “He was arrested and cuffed and taken to Raigmore Hospital to be checked because of his state of intoxication and was taken into a cubicle where he continued to act aggressively.”
Ms Eastwood said Dyce spat on the floor and then on the forehead of an officer before a spit hood could be applied.
Dyce, of Telford Road, Inverness admitted threatening or abusive behaviour, possession of a knife, culpable and reckless conduct by spitting on the floor and assaulting a police officer by spitting on him.
Defence solicitor Marc Dickson asked the Sheriff to call for a background report adding that his client had realised “it was time to turn his life around”.
Mr Dickson went on: “He has taken advantage of services in the prison. Alcohol has been a problem for him from an early age and at one time he was described as Scotland’s youngest alcoholic.”
Mr Dickson asked for his client to be released on bail, but Sheriff Matheson declined and remanded him in custody “due to the nature of the offence and likely disposal”.
She deferred sentence for a report and will sentence Dyce on January 31.
