Drug dealer avoids jail for police assaults

Leroy Robinson punched and elbowed the officers trying to detain him before fleeing the scene and later being found hiding under a bed.

The 28-year-old was also caught trying to smuggle a mobile phone hidden in the insole of a training shoe into Saughton Prison where he was an inmate.

Robinson had previously pleaded guilty to the charges and yesterday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court he was sentenced to a two-year community payback order and 240 hours of community service.

The court heard that Robinson – who has a tattoo which reads “Get rich or die trying” – had spent the equivalent of six months on remand following the attack on the officers on October 17 last year.

Robinson, of Saughton Mains Place, had also been accused of breaking a set of handcuffs and threatening to kill one of the officers, but his not guilty pleas were accepted.

Robinson was previously linked to the October 2008  abduction of innocent teenager Aaron Hunter, who was kidnapped by criminals  including Kevin Carroll, the gangster later gunned down in an Asda car park in Robroyston, Glasgow, in January 2010.

Fiscal depute Karon Rollo told the court yesterday that the two officers were in plain clothes and watching a  suspect in a car in Broomhouse Court when Robinson approached it. The officers knew that their colleagues wanted to speak to Robinson on another matter and approached the vehicle, producing warrant cards.

Robinson repeatedly punched one of the officers in the head and repeatedly struck the other in the ribs with his elbows. He ran away but was found hiding under a bed in a house. The court also heard that between May 27 and June 12 last year, Robinson conspired with others to sneak a phone into Saughton Prison after suggesting a payment of £150 for its delivery. The device was concealed inside a carved-out section of a trainer worn by another person, but it was intercepted.

Robinson’s defence solicitor, Rhona McLeod, said that her client had been unaware the two men he attacked were police officers due to their  casual dress. “He perceived himself to be under attack and his adrenaline was up. When he then found out they were police officers, he was very sorry about that,” she said.

Sheriff Donald Corke told Robinson: “It is fair to say you are a serial offender.”

The sheriff warned Robinson that if he breached the community payback order then he would be brought back to court and custody was  inevitable.

The sentence was criticised as being too lenient, and Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: “Attacking police officers is a very serious offence, but you wouldn’t know it from this sentencing. This was an opportunity to send out a message that this type of crime will not be tolerated. Instead, all it will do is show that soft-touch Scotland does not take such matters seriously.”