Aldi car park homophobic abuse drunk wanted prison

A drunk dialed 999 to call cops to a supermarket car park before unleashing a tirade of homophobic abuse because he wanted to go to prison, a court heard.

The incident happened in the car park of Aldi in Linlithgow.

David Webster claimed during the emergency call that someone was causing a disturbance outside the Aldi store in Linlithgow, West Lothian.

But when police arrived there was no-one at the scene except Webster, who started acting aggressively towards them.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard the 27-year-old called cops “F****** poofters” and other derogatory homophobic abuse until he was arrested.

He admitted that he had called 999 to get them to attend and told the officers he made the homophobic remarks because he knew he was guaranteed to go to court.

Stephen Biggam, defending, said Webster had extensive experience of the court system and knew “what buttons to push to get taken into custody”.

He said his client had split with his partner on the night of the offence and he’d gone for a night with friends and had far too much to drink.

He said: “He felt sorry for himself, felt he’d lost everything and had the strange notion that he wanted to go to jail.

“He shouldn’t have allowed himself to get into that particular state.

“He’s put his liberty and his family at risk and he realises he’s been grossly stupid.”

He added: “Much as he wanted to go to prison that night, he doesn’t want to go there now.”

Webster, from Bo’ness, Falkirk, earlier pled guilty to causing a disturbance on November 23 by acting aggressively and making homophobic remarks to police.

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch warned Webster that he had put his liberty at risk.

But he added: “ The author of the social work report says she’s known you for nine years and has seen a marked improvement in your behaviour in recent months.”

He fined Webster £400 to be paid at £100 a month.