Man who punched police officer jailed for six months

A man who punched a policeman in the head has been jailed for six months.

Sam Goddard, 25, resisted PCs Zoe Davie and Stewart Merchant on Perth Road on July 26, struggling with them, lashing out with his arms and legs and seizing hold of a pair of handcuffs.

He then assaulted PC Merchant in a cell at West Bell Street police station.

The court heard that Goddard later reacted abusively to a social worker during an interview for a report ahead of his sentencing.

Goddard’s solicitor Jane Caird admitted that the report later prepared was “not positive”, adding: “He was not trying to be threatening but I can understand why it came across like that.”

Sheriff Lorna Drummond jailed Goddard, of no fixed abode, for six months, reduced from nine months for his plea at the first opportunity. She told him: “It’s not acceptable that you acted in the way you did with the social worker.”