News / ‘Attention seeker’ jailed for eight months
A YOUNG repeat offender who threatened to kill himself by jumping off the cliffs at the Knab, in Lerwick, before violently struggling with police officers has been jailed.
Nathan Hilditch, of the town’s Ladies Drive, previously pled guilty to a string of offences that occurred in the early hours of 4 September.
The 21 year old admitted three charges of assault including biting one police officer, knocking one officer to the ground, injuring his leg, and attempting to scratch another.
Procurator Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday that Hilditch’s behaviour was “attention seeking” and had been carried out after he had been drinking.
He phoned the police via the 999 number while drunk at around 3.50am to say he was going to kill himself.
This prompted police to search for him, but 45 minutes later he revealed he was at the Knab in Lerwick.
Police found Hilditch at the cliff edge “intoxicated” and “unsteady” on his feet. However, the young man had “no intention to commit suicide”, Mackenzie suggested.
Police managed to grab Hilditch and haul him over a wall, but he resisted and flailed his limbs.
He had to be handcuffed and restrained by two police officers, but after agreeing to comply, he dropped his entire body weight.
This caused a policeman to fall to the ground and tear muscles in his leg, with another officer drafted in to assist. Hilditch began kicking another officer before he was carried away.
He then bit one officer on his hand, but the skin did not break.
Mackenzie said the officer who received the leg injury was told he would need eight weeks of recovery away from work as well as “intensive physiotherapy”.
The fiscal said there was “one thing to blame” for Hilditch’s “pathetic behaviour” – his drinking.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said social work reports hinted towards issues with Hilditch’s childhood. He had ten other siblings and lived in a caravan, the court was told.
The 21 year old – who appeared in court from custody – is starting to “open up” about his past, Allan said, who suggested his behaviour might be a “cry for help”.
“There must be something underlying behind this,” he said.
Sheriff Philip Mann said he had cut Hilditch “some slack” in the past as he was “sympathetic” to young people, especially those who have fallen foul of the “demon” drink.
But the sheriff added that he had “no confidence” that the 21 year old would comply with a community payback order and placed him in jail for eight months.
The eight month long jail sentence was backdated to when Hilditch first entered custody on 5 September.
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