Drunken attackers have jail sentences quashed on appeal

A UNIVERSITY student who carried out two drunken assaults, kicking one of his victims on the head, had a jail sentence quashed by appeal judges yesterday, and was ordered instead to perform 200 hours of community service.

Maxwell Robertson, 19, a former private schoolboy, had been given a six-month term by Sheriff Graham Buchanan, who said a message needed to be sent out loud and clear to discourage "drunken violence" in Aberdeen.

The judges at the Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh said the sheriff had not taken into account sufficiently that Robertson, of Great Western Road, Aberdeen, was a first offender and that an alternative to custody could be imposed.

Lords Clarke and Brodie also quashed a three-month sentence on Scott Patterson, 18, of Bucksburn, Aberdeen, and ordered 140 hours of community service. Robertson and Patterson assaulted Steven Petrie on 5 June last year by punching him repeatedly on the head and body. Robertson also kicked James Denholm on the head.