Sex offender who struggled with police sent back to jail

A convicted sex offender wanted to buy a train ticket home – but all he got was a ticket back to prison.

Aiden Bremner, who previously lived in Wick, boarded a train to return to his new home in Mill Street, Dingwall, in time to satisfy his curfew.

It had been imposed when he was released on licence two months earlier from an extended prison sentence of six years in September 2019 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

But the 25-year-old wanted to buy the ticket on board, only for the inspector to deny his request and eject him from the carriage.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard last week that Bremner breached his curfew by not being in his home before the curfew expired.

However, when police turned up at his property on December 23, 2020, to return him to jail to complete his sentence, Bremner resisted arrest and injured a policeman's nose.

Bremner appeared for trial on Friday before Sheriff Robert Frazer but submitted pleas of guilty to resisting arrest and threatening behaviour. He was jailed for five months, backdated to December 23.

Fiscal depute Emily Hood told the court that Bremner's release licence had been revoked and police went to Mill Street to arrest him.

"He struggled violently with them and [they] attempted to cuff him. He lashed out with his arms and legs, and struck a policeman, bursting his nose. He put one officer in a headlock and took his baton from him," Ms Hood added.

Defence solicitor Ross Dow said his client wanted "to embrace his new partner to say goodbye and felt there was no need for the police to grab him. He tried to get home in time and felt hard done by."

Sheriff Frazer told Bremner: "You cannot behave in this way, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it."