Voe knife case deferred

A GLASGOW man who pled guilty to carrying a knife in the Shetland village of Voe while he was very drunk must wait until next month before he is sentenced.

On Thursday Lerwick Sheriff Court heard that 18 year old Patrick Colquhoun, of 18 Balgray Crescent, Barrhead, was found outside Voe community hall in the early hours of 23 October last year.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said police received a call from a concerned member of the public that a man was in the street in possession of a knife.

The fiscal said Colquhoun was clearly agitated and threw the four and a half inch fixed blade knife to the ground when they approached him, saying he was glad they had arrived before he stabbed someone.

But defence agent Tommy Allan said it had been Colquhoun himself who had called the police to alert them that “he was not in a good way”, and that he had cooperated with them throughout.

He added that his client had been working in Shetland at a fish factory, but had lost his job as a result of this incident and was currently unemployed.

He had drunk a large quantity of alcohol at the time and could remember little of what had happened.

Sheriff Philip Mann deferred sentence until 18 March for reports, saying it was a serious offence to carry a knife in public.