Courts in Moray: Drunk passenger stopped train leaving
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A rail passenger has appeared in court for preventing a train from leaving a station in Moray.
Jordan Winchester got onto the Inverness-bound train when it stopped at Keith shortly after 11am on Monday, January 27, 2020.
Elgin Sheriff Court was told that the female conductor recognised Winchester who was aged 18 at the time.
Procurator Fiscal Sharon Ralph said: "She saw the accused get on board and knowing him to be quite challenging refused him travel."
An argument ensued which was captured on the conductor's body-cam.
The footage showed Winchester calling the woman "a rat" amongst several other things.
He then grabbed the railway key, which allows the doors to be open and closed, and threw it onto the tracks.
Knowing that the service would have to be delayed, the conductor walked along the platform towards the front of the train to tell the driver.
The court heard that Winchester followed her and continued to be abusive.
When the driver got out of his compartment, Winchester repeatedly asked: "Are you going to hit me?"
Ms Ralph said: "It was more of a challenge than a genuine question."
The driver managed to retrieve the key from off the track.
However Winchester then stood within the doorway of the driver's compartment, preventing it from being closed, and took out his mobile phone.
When told that deliberately delaying a train was a criminal offence, he replied: "**** ***, I'm going to make a call."
The court heard that the conductor managed to lure Winchester away a slight distance from the train, which allowed the driver to close the door. She then managed to get on board as well.
However, as the train was about to depart she noticed that Winchester was hanging onto one of the open windows.
He then reached in and repeatedly tried to grab the body-cam off the conductor until she finally managed to close the window.
The police later examined footage both from the body-cam and from the station's CCTV.
However, they were unable, at that time, to identify Winchester.
This, Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood was told, was one of the reasons why the case had taken over three years to come to court.
In addition, because Winchester now lives in England, there had been confusion between English and Scottish legal officials which had caused extra delays.
Defence solicitor Grant Daglish stated that his 21-year-old client had since gone teetotal and become a very different person to the drunk teenager who'd committed the offence that day.
Adding that Winchester stays near Manchester, Mr Daglish said: "He realised that his social group in the local area was just bringing him to the attention of the courts. He therefore moved away."
Winchester, who has previously lived in both Elgin and Keith, pleaded guilty in February to having acted in a threatening and abusive liable to cause fear and alarm to a reasonable person.
He also admitted committing the offence while on bail.
The court heard that Winchester had already been ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community due to a different matter.
Passing sentence yesterday, Sheriff Fleetwood said: "It was an appalling way to behave.
"It's a good job for you that this happened so long ago.
"If it had come before me at the time I would have probably have jailed you for six months. I still might."
Sheriff Fleetwood ordered Winchester to be of good behaviour for the next three months.
He added: "If you start offending again you can expect to go to prison.
"If you don't start work on the community punishment order you will go to prison."
