Assault man jailed

[Nwicker60]

Fifteen months term for attack on flat resident

A MAN who burst into a woman's flat and attacked her, has been jailed for 15 months.
Richard Matthews, 27, had been drinking, prior to the incident at a Thurso flat, on October 10, last year.
He had been attempting to make contact with a man in connection with an allegation made about the man and which the accused believed had been reported to the police.
Matthews called on the man to come out of the flat in St John's House, Thurso, and when he got no response, broke open the door and accosted the first person he encountered, 40-year-old Linda Watt, Wick Sheriff Court heard.
David Barclay, prosecuting, said that Matthews seized Ms Watt by her hair, produced a screw driver or similar instrument and held its handle against her neck.
The fiscal added: "She was understandably frightened and upset and had no idea what was going to happen next." The incident was brief and had "fizzled out" by the time the police arrived.
Matthews, who is believed to live in Wick, although his address was listed as Inverness prison, appeared from custody and admitted a charge of assault on indictment.
Sheriff Andrew Berry rejected a plea from solicitor Sheena Mair for a non-custodial sentence and pointed to a catalogue of offending by the accused who, he said, appeared to have been "in and out of prison" over the past 10-11 years, including a substantial prison sentence from the High Court.
The latest jail term is being backdated to October 13 when the accused was arrested.