Five months for accused who went "completely off the rails"

A THURSO man has been jailed for five months for an assault in the town last summer.

Paul Cannop, 22, was originally ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work in the community after admitting the offence on indictment, in October last year, and a record. He punched James Patterson at a house in Macaulay View, Thurso, earlier in the same year, on June 20, Wick Sheriff Court was told.

However, Cannop, whose address was given as Inverness Prison, breached the unpaid work order. It was revoked yesterday by Sheriff Andrew Berry, who substituted the jail term.

The sheriff said that it was the only appropriate sentence as alternatives had been tried "over and over again" without success. Sheriff Berry told Cannop that he appeared to be co-operating with court orders at one point, but had then gone "completely off the rails".

Cannop's current sentence was back-dated to August 23 when he was remanded. He was admonished on an additional charge of disorderly conduct which he also admitted.