DEATH THREATS TO POLICE officers, resisting arrest and a several serious driving offences left a Moray man starting an eight-month jail sentence this week.
Anthony McPhee, a 29-year-old father of four with another child on the way, appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court and admitted threatening two police officers, resisting arrest, failing to provide breath samples, driving without insurance or a valid driving licence and crashing into three parked cars and a wall near his Keith home.
The court learned that McPhee, of Den Crescent, was seen running away from his vehicle by the owners of the two cars he had hit on Balloch Road in Keith in the early hours of July 6.
When police officers tracked McPhee down at a car park on Den Crescent he became aggressive, with Fiscal depute Kevin Corrins telling the court that he took up a “boxing stance” and said he would assault and kill the officers.
In his defence solicitor Brent Lockie said that his client and turned to drink during a difficult period in his life and he accepted his decision to drive home had been “foolish”.
The solicitor appealed to Sheriff Ian Anderson to give his client “one last chance” – however, the Sheriff told McPhee that his behaviour towards the police and a history of failing to comply with community payback orders meant jail was the “appropriate disposal”.
McPhee was sentenced to eight months in prison and disqualified from driving for 16 months.