A man with a “horrendous” record of offending, who tried to rob a man and kicked a woman’s car in a Dundee street, has been jailed for 47 months.
Edmond Eccles (24), a prisoner at Perth, had admitted, while in possession of a knife, he demanded a wallet from Ian Flight with the intent to rob him in Lorimer Street on February 23, while on bail.
He also admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner by following two women to their car in Lorimer Street on the same date, standing at the driver’s door pointing at one of the women and kicking her car as it was driven away, also while on bail.
Sheriff Richard Davidson said Eccles had a record that could “only be described as horrendous” and he had 12 previous convictions for assault alone.
The court heard Eccles had made an “ill-planned” trip to Dundee and had not factored in anywhere to stay.
An agent for Eccles said his client “expressed empathy” for his victims and recognised there was “only one outcome” a jail sentence.
The court heard Eccles had a long-standing Valium addiction.
Sheriff Davidson told him, “It is never going to be acceptable to stop people on the street and demand money from them. In the case of the two ladies, they were extremely frightened and this will have unsettled them for a long time.
“You have a history of fighting with authority and you have to be regarded as presenting a risk of serious harm to the public.”
Eccles was jailed for a total of 47 months and will have to conduct a one-year supervised release order, which includes anger management and victim empathy courses.
In 2003 a then 16-year-old Eccles was banned from entering much of central Scotland after he waged a campaign of terror on the residents of Alva.
He was ordered by a sheriff to stay out of Tayside, Central and Fife after he was unmasked as the ringleader of a group of anti-social youths causing chaos in the Clackmannanshire town.
The teenager admitted 17 charges including assault, theft and the misuse of drugs as part of a wider four-month campaign of violence, housebreaking and intimidation that brought terror to residents.