A 48-year old man who coughed in the faces of two police officers was jailed for four months on Tuesday, becoming the first man in Scotland to be sentenced for endangering the lives of law enforcers.
Iain Lindsay from Inverness committed the offence at the charge bar of Burnett Road Police Station on 15 April amid a national effort to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lindsay, who is a prisoner in Inverness, appeared before Sheriff Sara Matheson at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted to assaulting two police constables by coughing in their faces and putting their lives in danger.
Both Lindsay and the officers have been confirmed to not be carrying the infection.
His defence solicitor, Graham Mann, said that his client has become the first man to receive a sentence for a crime of this nature in Scotland.
Mr Mann said Lindsay, who has an extensive list of previous convictions, was drunk but that was no excuse for his "unacceptable behaviour".
A Crown Office spokesman said that Lindsay is among 300 other people in the country who have been charged with offences of coughing or spitting at law enforcement.
According to Fiscal depute David Morton Lindsay was arrested due to an alleged incident at his home. He arrived at Burnett Road Police Station, Inverness around 9 pm, and was placed into the custody suite.
"While being ‘booked in’ at the police station charge bar, he was flanked by two officers – one either side of him – as per usual practice. He was asked various routine questions about his legal rights and welfare by the custody suite staff", he said.
"During the course of the booking-in process Mr Lindsay turned towards one police constable and coughed once in his face. He then immediately turned to the other constable and coughed once in his face".
"Although he was not displaying any Covid-19 related symptoms – particularly in the present climate – this caused both the officers, and those with whom they live, significant alarm and distress", he added.
Despite being on the frontline, attempts by the Scottish government to provide the necessary equipment to protect officers were dismissed by police authorities.
Last month, the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) claimed that personal protective equipment (PPE) for officers would not provide any "meaningful protection".
"Our panel is unanimous in its views that the primary aim of the surgical mask is to prevent the wearer from infecting anyone else; and that they offer little effective barrier to the wearer from contracting the virus", SPF chairman David Hamilton said.
"In short the scientific case that these masks can be used as PPE against Covid-19 has yet to be made".
This follows the confirmed death of a 47-year old rail worker in London on Monday after she was spat and coughed on by a man who said he had Covid-19 on the morning of 22 March.
