A homeless man was jailed for 18 months after terrifying shoppers in Marks & Spencer by shouting, “I have the coronavirus, I have the coronavirus”.
Colin MacLeod threatened to stab security staff in the store’s food hall in Princes Street, Edinburgh, when they confronted him.
Earlier the serial thief took an item from a display at another shop on the thoroughfare and when challenged by its manager said: “Are you willing to die for it?”
MacLeod then breathed right in the woman’s face and told her: “Now you have coronavirus.”
The 41-year-old appeared via video link from Edinburgh’s Saughton Prison at the city’s sheriff court on Thursday.
He admitted assaulting shop manager Geraldine Hayes on March 23 by breathing heavily on her and saying she was infected with Covid-19.
He also pled guilty to conducting himself in a disorderly manner at M&S, repeatedly shouting he had coronavirus, making threats of violence, and spitting.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lavelle said MacLeod approached The Works stationery shop on Princes Street where Geraldine was employed at around 4.15pm and “appeared intoxicated”.
Ms Lavelle said MacLeod became “agitated” and picked up an item from a display basket outside. When Geraldine requested he return the item, he asked if she was “willing to die for it”.
The police were called, the court heard, which MacLeod overhead. Ms Lavelle said: “He walked over to Ms Hayes and bent over so his face was directly opposite her face and breathed heavily on her.”
She said MacLeod told her she would be infected with coronavirus then walked off.
Fifteen minutes later, MacLeod entered the M&S store on the street and was spotted by security putting a steak and a selection of cheeses into his rucksack.
Security staff took the items away and asked him to leave, the prosector said.
Ms Lavelle said: “He refused to leave, saying: “I’m not going anywhere.”
MacLeod was in the self-service area of the food hall and started shouting he had coronavirus, causing “fear and alarm” among shoppers, she added.
MacLeod twice told security workers who asked him to leave, “I will put a blade in you”, the court heard.
Police officers arrived to find MacLeod verbally abusive and spitting, said Ms Lavelle, and put a spit hood on him before getting him in their van.
Defence agent Philip Templeton said his client had consumed a “large quantity of alcohol and valium” and “recalls very little of this incident”.
Mr Templeton said MacLeod understood that March 23 - shortly after the national lockdown began - was a time of “great anxiety” about the pandemic, and he was “mortified by his actions”.
The solicitor said his client - who was on a methadone prescription - had been living in a hostel and sleeping rough before being held on remand since March.
Jailing MacLeod, Sheriff Alistair Noble told him: “It has not been suggested that you had coronavirus, but this incident must have caused great fear and alarm.”
