Navyman off course

Accused landed in complete stranger's home in his underpants Wick Sheriff Court is told

A SHERIFF heard yesterday about a drunken navyman's bizarre behaviour after he was ejected from a house in Thurso.

Geoffrey Owens made his way to the home of complete strangers, nearby, took off his clothes and fell asleep in one of their bedrooms.

The strange turn of events was described at Wick Sheriff Court, today, after he admitted disorderly conduct and threatening or abusive behaviour.

Owens, 39, had been out with friends at a nightclub in Thurso on January 30 and had returned with them to a house in Kirk View. However, he was put out of the house when he became aggressive and abusive and smashed a pane of glass in the front door..

The police were called, but by the time they arrived, Owens had moved on to Morton Court, fiscal depute Fraser Matheson told Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood.

Mr Matheson went on: "The residents were frightened to discover a man in there home in a partial state of undress asleep in their spare bedroom."

The fiscal said that the accused was found there, in his underwear, in "an intoxicated and confused state" when police officers arrived. They had also responded to the earlier incident and took Owens into custody.

Owens told Sheriff Fleetwood that he couldn't explain why he had gone into the home of complete strangers and taken his clothes off but said he had clearly had too much to drink.

He apologised for the distress and damage he had caused and said there would never be a repeat of such behaviour.

The sheriff told Owens, of 2 Finch Road, Portsmouth, he was lucky not to have been facing "far more serious charges".

Owens, who was staying in the Caithness hamlet of Scarfskerry at the time of the offences, fined a total of £1000 and ordered to pay Highland Council compensation of £100 for the damage door.