Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former soldier given unpaid work for spitting at police in Dundee

tayside dundee fife police sexual
The rape comments were made as McLaughlin was driven to police HQ in Dundee. Image: DC Thomson.

A former soldier who spat at a police officer has been spared a prison sentence following a letter of commendation from his former commanding officer.

John Youens said he was ashamed of his behaviour and had written to the police officer to apologise to her.

Youens also admitted cutting himself with a knife following a violent stand-off with police in October 2020.

He further admitted making threatening phone calls to a resident of Rosendael veterans residence later the same year.

The court heard the man had missed a call from Youens.

He listened to the voicemail which had been left, in which Youens threatened to “snap his jaw in half”.

Apology letter

Speaking in mitigation for Youens, defence solicitor Lee Qumsieh said: “He does have struggles with mental health and alcohol misuse.

“You can see from the letter he wrote to the police officer how bad he felt about the incident.”

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael sentenced Youens to 18 months supervision and 150 hours of unpaid work.

He said: “These were very serious matters. They do fall within the custodial zone.

“I think, because of your military background (a letter from his former CO and the report), there are non-custodial options available.

“I will also impose a period of unpaid work.

“This is a direct alternative to custody. Do not make a mess of this.”

Police deployed PAVA spray

Youens, 41, became involved in an incident on Kinghorne Walk in Dundee in October 2020 after a day of drinking with his former partner.

After they had a disagreement Youens cut himself with a knife, before acting aggressively with officers who came to deal with the matter.

After being detained he spat in the direction of a female PC.

At Dundee Sheriff Court, Youens admitted acting in a threatening and abusive manner and assaulting the police officer on October 7 2020.

Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney previously told the court: “The accused is 41 and unemployed.

“He had been in a relationship with the complainer for around four months.

“The accused took a knife and cut his arm.

“Police were called, they attended the property and the accused came out.

“He was shouting and swearing at officers.

“An officer deployed PAVA spray.

“At the charge bar the accused continued to act in an erratic manner.

“He told the officers he would put bricks through their windows.

“He then turned to PC Leah Harvey and spat towards her.

“The spit did not land on her.”