Courts in Moray: Former soldier tried to fight police
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An Army veteran demanded the police took off his handcuffs so that he could fight them.
Sean Paterson told the officers he couldn't be arrested because he was a Highland Infantry man.
The 30-year-old came to the police's attention after a call was received that a man was shouting and swearing at Lossie Cottages in Elgin.
When they arrived they found Paterson, who lived there, lying on his back upon the grass outside.
Talking at Elgin Sheriff Court, fiscal depute Karen Polk said: "He immediately began shouting and swearing at them.
"They asked him to be quiet but he continued.
"He was then told that he was committing an offence and would be arrested, but this didn't deter him."
Paterson appeared in court on a video link from prison where he is currently on remand due to a separate matter.
He had previously pleaded guilty to a charge that, during the course of September 6, 2021, he had acted in a threatening and abusive manner.
The court heard that Paterson had spend four years in the military and that he now had issues with depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.
Matthew O'Neill, his defence counsel, said: "He acknowledges that he had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. He doesn't have a full recollection of the evening.
"He can only apologise."
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood initially fined Paterson £400, but with no way to pay that was substituted with 14 days in custody.
