Drunk went on sectarian rant at police in Bathgate

A DRUNK launched into a sectarian rant after he was thrown out of a nightclub, a court has heard.

Robert Smith shouted sectarian and religious comments at police who were trying to restrain him at Chalmers nightclub in Bathgate, West Lothian.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard that he shouted abuse at a female police constable and sectarian abuse at other officers.

Smith, 26, of Bathgate, appeared for sentence yesterday.

He earlier pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and using religiously offensive language, resisting arrest and assaulting two officers by spitting in their faces on November 11 last year.

Glenn Fraser, defending, said: “This was unthinking abuse due to him drinking.”

Passing sentence, Sheriff Grahame Fleming QC told him: “But for the fact you’ve already spent a period on remand, the appropriate penalty would have been custody.”

Smith was put on probation for a year and ordered to address his alcohol problem. He was also tagged to stay in his home on a 6pm to 6am curfew for nine months and banned from the nightclub for a year.