East Lothian crime: Thug jailed after Christmas Day attack and threat to petrol bomb police station

An East Lothian thug who battered a man during a Christmas Day party and then later threatened to petrol bomb his local police station has been jailed.

Jayson Dodds, 22, also told a police officer he would “bite his nose off” and called his mother “a whore” after he had been arrested in June this year.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told Dodds attended a party at his sister’s home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, on Christmas Day last year and had gone to bed around midnight. But he was soon woken by the noise of the ongoing party and after angrily coming back through to the living room he was seen to grab hold of reveller Joseph Agnew.

Dodds then punched the man in the face and after struggling with the man he placed him in a headlock. The police were called in but Dodds left the scene before officers arrived. He was then picked up by police after reports of a disturbance at the town’s Riverside Gardens on June 15 this year.

The court was told officers saw Dodds had “a number of cuts on his body” and he was being abusive towards members of the public. He was arrested and placed in the cage of a police van but soon began smashing his head off the inside of the vehicle.

Fiscal depute Joanna Waller told the court Dodds shouted at one officer that he “really wants to bite your nose off” as well as issuing slurs about his mother. He was taken to the Capital’s royal infirmary for treatment to his injuries where he continued to act unruly and issued a threat to “petrol bomb Musselburgh police station”.

Defending lawyer David Allan said his client had become “annoyed” during the festive celebration at his sister’s home after Mr Agnew kept waking him up and asking him to rejoin the party. Mr Allan said Dodds then got up from his bed and angrily assaulted the man.

The brief said the second incident in June this year came about after Dodds had consumed cocaine and alcohol and had “no great recollection” of the events. Mr Allan added: “He knows it was totally unacceptable to behave in this way.”

Sheriff Ian Anderson said: “These are not the worst offences of this type we see on petition but on the other hand you have a very bad record for similar matters. In the circumstances it seems to me that a significant custody sentence is appropriate.”

Sheriff Anderson jailed Dodds, from Musselburgh, East Lothian, for a total of 14 months across all the charges. Dodds pleaded guilty to assaulting Joseph Agnew by struggling with him, punching him to the head and placing him in a headlock at an address at Newbigging, Musselburgh, on December 26 last year.

He also admitted to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and making derogatory remarks to police officers at Riverside gardens, Musselburgh, on June 15 this year. He also pleaded guilty to a third charge of making threats towards police and uttering a threat to petrol bomb Musselburgh police station while at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on June 15 this year.