A 17-year-old boy who threatened to slash a police officer “from ear-to-ear” has been given a hefty amount of unpaid work.
The Coatbridge teen behaved in a threatening manner while in a property in the town in July.
Sheriff Frank Pieri, who was unimpressed with the youngster’s record, told him he was spared jail because of his age.
The procurator fiscal said: “At around 9.15pm, the witness was in their home address when an argument started with the accused.
“The accused left the locus and the witness contacted police as they were concerned about the accused’s demeanour.
“When police arrived, though, the witness provided no further details.
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“The accused then returned to the property and became instantly aggressive towards police. He was shouting and swearing and tried to square up to them.
“Police took him out of the locus and he was shouting, ‘you’re dead, you skinny, lanky p****’.
“He was warned about his behaviour but he failed to desist and was arrested. He then said, ‘I’ll slash you from ear-to-ear’.”
The accused’s defence solicitor said: “He’s had a tough upbringing and has a very lengthy history with Bernardo’s.
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“I hope we’re not at the stage of custody yet. He can do unpaid work.”
Sheriff Pieri said: “You’re very close to a period of detention today but I’ll step back from that because of your young age.
“I’ll impose a community payback order with supervision for a period of 15 months. You must also do 150 hours of unpaid work, to be completed in nine months.
“If you breach this then you can be imprisoned for it.”
