Court / Man given ‘lenient’ previous sentence jailed for police fire threats
A TWENTY seven year old man who threatened to burn police officers’ houses down has been jailed after failing to carry out unpaid work handed down to him.
Thomas Drever, from Lerwick’s Ladies Drive, was sentenced to ten months in prison after he refused to carry out the full terms of two previous community payback orders.
Drever had failed to pay £300 compensation owed to his victim after an assault in Trench Bar on 22 October 2022.
And Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Monday that Drever had only carried out six of 80 required hours of unpaid work following a lengthy incident involving police officers on 27 October 2024.
Drever told officers he would “burn all of your f*cking houses down” and that he would remember their faces after being arrested for bail breaches in the early hours of the morning.
His three-hour long barrage also saw him shout and swear at officers, including making comments related to disability, while also resisting arrest.
He also spat on, and headbutted and kicked, the inside of the police van, and was found to have just under a gram of cocaine in his possession.
Drever was placed under supervision for that incident, and also ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank told Drever it had not been him who had imposed that sentence, which he called “particularly lenient”.
The community payback orders were still in force, but the sheriff revoked these – saying he was of the “very definite opinion” that a custodial sentence was now required.
Speaking directly to Drever, he told him that the £300 compensation for the 2022 assault was an “obligatory part of the order” that he had failed to comply with.
But he said his “greatest concern” was reserved for the 2024 incident, and for Drever’s non-compliance with his community payback order.
“Quite simply you should have grasped the nettle when you had the chance,” sheriff Cruickshank said.
“It would have been a lot less prickly than the sentence I now consider appropriate.”
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client had “not been mentally fit” to carry out unpaid work, and had also missed court appearances due to this.
He explained he was not working, so had been unable to pay the compensation.
Allan suggested a tag could be an alternative to a custodial sentence.
However sheriff Cruickshank jailed Drever for two months for the failure to pay compensation, and eight months for his refusal to carry out unpaid work for the 2024 incident.
These sentences are to run consecutively, so Drever will be jailed for 10 months.
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