A customer at an Edinburgh McDonalds appeared in court last week after threatening to kill a drive-thru worker.
Hayley Jempson had flown into a rage at the restaurant beside the Cameron Toll Shopping Centre over the amount of time it was taking to prepare her order.
After attempting to grab the worker through the takeaway window, Jempson had continued to issue a number of threats which included a threat to kill.
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Leaving the staff member terrified, she said:“See when you finish work, I’m going to f***ing kill you.”
At this point, a court heard how the worker had pressed an emergency panic button to alert police, as Jempson made her way round to the main entrance on May 8 of this year.
The 30-year-old then went on to assault a different member of staff.
According to the Daily Record, Jempson had plead guilty to a number of offences including the McDonalds incident as well as assaults and threatening behaviour.
Other incidents included threatening to burn down a takeaway she was fired from, as well as texting another employee with threats of having a gun.
Fiscal depute Christine Brownlie said Jempson placed her order at McDonalds just after 2pm, before returning on foot “asking where her order was” ,and became “hostile and aggressive” towards an employee.
The court heard Jempson leaned towards the Perspex screen and “attempted to grab” the woman, who hit a panic button.
Ms Brownlie said another worker, Michael Main, met Jempson as she approached the restaurant’s entrance and was “forcefully pushed in the chest with both hands causing him to stumble back”.
Later the court was told Jempson had been “terminated” from a job at Ozzy’s Takeaway in Prestonpans, East Lothian. Ms Brownlie said Jempson called the business at around 7pm on September 15 last year and made threats to damage it then sent text messages to a worker saying “she would attend the shop with her partner and burn it down”.
Nine days later, the court heard Ozzy’s worker Jennifer Findlay texted Jempson asking for the return of money. After a message suggesting Jempson had been taken into custody by cops, a message she sent back read: “A grass is saying we had a gun and I only told two or three people about that.”
In later messages Jempson wrote, “I’ll be at your door in 15 minutes” and “I don’t take cheek from anyone”, adding: “And I’ll bring a gun.”
After Jempson texted saying she’d “start a war”, Jennifer replied she didn’t want to be threatened.
Jempson retorted: “I’m not threatening you. I’m promising. See you soon.”
In a another charge, Jempson threatened a woman in the city’s Craigmillar area on March 24 after calling her a “f***ing grass” who “phoned the police on me”.
The court heard Jempson also shouted, swore, and threatened violence against an employee at the Lidl supermarket in the city’s Niddrie on February 3 and repeatedly referred to him as a “baldie b*****d”.
Jempson, who now works in a chip shop, further admitted assaulting her partner at the Cameron Toll Shopping Centre on August 6, attempting to strike his head and hitting him on the body.
Defence agent Victoria Good, acting for Jempson, said her client had suffered from “mental health difficulties”.
Sheriff Adrian Fraser sentenced Jempson, of Craigmillar, to 18 months supervision on a community payback order and 72 days home curfew between 10.15pm and 8am on a tag.
The sheriff deferred sentence on Jempson over the assault on her partner for her to be of good behaviour.
