Inverness to Wick bus passenger attacked by man just out of jail

A man travelling on the Inverness-Wick bus service was subjected to an unprovoked attack by a drunken fellow passenger – just out of prison.

The assault, one of three, committed by 63-year-old William McPhee, resulted in him being jailed for eight months at Wick Sheriff Court this week.

Sheriff Neil Wilson was told that during the journey, on December 27 last year, McPhee, who had been released from prison earlier in the day after serving a term for an unrelated offence, became “increasingly agitated and aggressive” towards a passenger sitting next to him.

Fiscal depute Grant McLennan said: “When the bus reached Berriedale, the accused grabbed him in a headlock. He managed to push him away but was punched twice in the face and the accused then tried to head-butt him.”

The incident was reported to the police. McPhee got off the bus at Dunbeath and knocked on the door of a house and said he wanted a taxi.

Mr Maclennan continued: “The resident said he could not assist. A family member happened to drive up and McPhee approached him and asked him for a lift. They accompanied McPhee away from the house at which point, he punched one of them in the face, causing his lip to burst and then turned to the other and punched him. At that point, McPhee fell to the ground, sustaining a cut to his face.”

An ambulance took McPhee to Caithness General Hospital and, after he was checked, he was arrested and detained.

Sheriff Wilson heard mitigation in which it was said that McPhee could offer no explanation for the attacks. He admitted the assaults and a record of offending.

McPhee was seeking help for his alcohol problem and the point was made that a jail sentence would interrupt the progress he was making.

However, Sheriff Wilson, who saw a background report on McPhee, of Provost Sinclair Road, Thurso, told him: “These were entirely unprovoked attacks and I regard them as very, very serious indeed. I am not persuaded there is any alternative to custody.”