A police sergeant was left covered with blood after grappling with a drunken yob in the middle of a busy Perthshire road.
Mark Thomson ran on to Feus Road, Auchterarder, after downing a bottle of gin for breakfast and shouted at an oncoming car: “f***ing run me over.”
Motorist Katherine McLean had to slam on the brakes to avoid knocking him down.
Thomson appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on May 3 last year and causing Sgt David Patton to be injured.
The 43-year-old also pled guilty to trying to throttle his pregnant ex-partner at his home in Aberfoyle and brandishing a knife at her.
He was jailed for two years and will be monitored for 12 months after he’s out of prison.
Gin for breakfast
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson told the court: “On May 2 2021, the accused consumed a substantial quantity of alcohol.
“He awoke the following day at a property in Ruthven Park, Auchterarder.
“At around 8.30am he consumed a bottle of gin.
“At 10am, he was then asked to leave the property.”
Thomson went outside but came back almost immediately when he realised he had left his phone.
He was then walked to a bus stop on Feus Road.
“En route, the accused fell over,” said Ms Hodgson.
“A witness called 999 as she was concerned for the accused’s welfare.
“He became aggressive and ran onto the road, in front of an oncoming motor vehicle.”
Thomson shouted at the car: “F***ing run me over.”
Driver Ms McLean had to brake sharply to avoid colliding with the accused, the fiscal depute said.
“Moments later Police Sergeant David Patton arrived and found the accused in the road.
“Mr Thomson took hold of the sergeant and a struggle ensued.”
She said: “They both fell to the ground, causing Sgt Patton to strike his head off the road.”
The court heard the officer suffered a cut to his left eye and a large lump and bruising on the right side of his head.
“Over time, this caused his right eye to close over,” said Ms Hodgson.
“The struggle ended when two other officers intervened and assisted Sgt Patton.”
As he was being placed in a police van, Thomson shouted obscenities at the injured officer.
At the time, an eye witness told The Courier she saw the officer “covered in blood”.
Thomson, she said, had been standing in the middle of the road with his arms outstretched.
Tried to strangle pregnant ex
On October 24 2021, Thomson was at his home in Main Street, Aberfoyle, drinking gin and watching football, when his ex-partner arrived.
Thomson challenged her, demanding to know what she was doing at his flat.
“She explained she wanted to end the relationship and had come to collect her things,” said Ms Hodgson.
“This upset the accused and he started shouting at her.
“When she went to the bedroom to pick up her clothes, he followed her.
“He took her by the neck and pushed her onto her back, onto the bed.”
The fiscal depute said: “He momentarily pinned her down by the neck before letting her go.
“Standing up, he brandished a knife at her.”
Police descended on to property and arrested Thomson.
He told officers: “This is just a f***ing joke.”
Later, at Clydebank police station, he called one officer a “snake” and said: “There’s a bullet with his name on it – a bullet that will go through his head.”
Prison threshold reached
A solicitor for Thomson urged the court to put his client on the Caledonia Project, a three year rehabilitation programme for male offenders.
“He was in a haze of substances at the time,” he said.
The lawyer pointed out Thomson had been remanded in custody since his arrest for the assault in October.
Sheriff William Wood said: “This is a serious matter but I have to consider that Mr Thomson has almost served the equivalent of a two-year sentence.”
He told Thomson: “You don’t have a good record but I accept you don’t have many convictions for violence.
“But here you are with a particularly nasty incident involving your ex-partner, when you tried to throttle her and brandished a knife at her – all at a time when she was pregnant.
“That can cause a lot of distress to the unborn child and I have to take that into account.”
The sheriff added: “This incident and the other charges take this well above the custody threshold.
“Your solicitor has tried to persuade me to put you on the Caledonian Programme but I would worry that I would be setting you up to fail.”
Thomson was jailed for 24 months, backdated to when he was taken into custody last October.
He will also be subject to a supervised release order for a year “to protect the public from serious harm.”
The sheriff further issued a non-harassment order, banning Thomson from having contact with his ex-girlfriend for a year.
