A one-time Lib Dem candidate fought with police and accused them of being responsible for Sarah Everard’s murder during a violent outburst at Perth’s Job Centre.
Christopher Rennie refused to leave, “star-fished” on the floor and had to be physically slid across the ground towards the exit.
The 35-year-old claimed he was “manhandled” by officers and lashed out because he was worried about being tasered.
Rennie, who campaigned for votes in the 2018 Highland Perthshire council by-election, was found guilty after trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
Sheriff William Gilchrist told him: “You should have just left”.
Point blank refused to go
The court heard how the High Street Job Centre was temporarily locked down on October 8 2021, when Rennie turned up without an appointment and refused to leave.
Sergeant Scott Hebbourn told the court he and three other officers attended that afternoon.
He said Rennie, who has autism and anxiety issues, was sitting on a chair in a waiting area.
“I advised him that staff were looking for him to leave,” Sgt Hebbourn, 46, said.
“He was constantly asking me why.
“The conversation was going round in circles, to the point where we had to escort him off the premises.
“He point blank refused to leave.”
The officer said: “He put himself on the floor and lay there.
“I formed the opinion he was doing that out of protest to make things more difficult for us.”
As he lay on the ground, Rennie shouted: “Please don’t taser me.”
Sgt Hebbourn said: “He was screaming a lot.
“We continued to try and encourage him to leave on his own free will but verbal instruction was just not working.
“Our only option was to slide him towards the door.”
As officers tried to drag Rennie out of the office, he stood up.
He lashed out, attempting to kick and strike Sgt Hebbourn “with a closed fist”.
Rennie then grabbed a keyboard from a nearby desk, which officers feared he would use as a weapon.
Fixated on taser gun
PC George Wilkie said members of the public had been asked to leave the Job Centre during the commotion.
Security guards were on hand to stop anyone else coming in.
He said Rennie called him a “b******” and became “fixated” on his colleague’s taser, which was never drawn.
“He was saying that we were all rapists,” PC Wilkie said.
“He was saying we were responsible for the death of Sarah Everard in London.”
The officer told the trial: “He was star-fishing on the floor and due to his size we were unable to stand him up.”
As he was being arrested, Rennie said he “didn’t believe in the law”.
Disorientated
Rennie, of Skinnergate, Perth, blamed the police officers’ actions for his violent response.
He said the sight of Sgt Hebbourn’s holstered taser “sparked a bit of extra anxiety.”
Rennie said that the officers didn’t warn him before they laid hands on him.
“There were so many officers swirling around me and saying different things,” he said.
“I felt disorientated. I fell and clutched at a desk.
“What I remember vividly was multiple officers continuing to manhandle me.”
He added: “I was feeling very overwhelmed by the whole thing.
“Because I’m autistic I was having a meltdown and lashing out.”
Conviction
Sheriff Gilchrist found Rennie guilty of assaulting Sgt Hebbourn (then a PC), behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and deliberately obstructing officers by laying on the floor and refusing to move when instructed to do so.
“You should have just left,” the sheriff said.
“You were obliged to leave once you were told.
“The police were trying to persuade you but you weren’t for going.
“When police took hold of your arm, it wasn’t to grab you it was to usher you away from the scene.
“It’s clear that what you were doing attracted quite a crowd.”
The sheriff added: “I accept that your level of anxiety contributed to the way you behaved, but the way you behaved constituted an offence.”
Sentence was deferred for background reports.
Rennie represented the Scottish Liberal Democrats in a by-election for the Highland Perthshire ward in April 2018, following the sudden death of council leader Ian Campbell.
He campaigned for better roads, health services and superfast broadband.
Rennie placed sixth with 78 votes.
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