A MAN who kicked off at police in the centre of Clydebank and got so angry that cops had to use incapacitant spray to restrain him has been jailed.

Ryan Gemmell was sent to prison for 10 months for his aggressive behaviour towards officers in the town centre, and at the local police station.

The 44-year-old spat at one officer through the door of a police cell after being arrested in Livingstone Street on the evening of April 8.

Gemmell was sentenced at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges of threatening or abusive behaviour and one count of police assault.

At the time of the offences, Gemmell was the subject of three separate bail orders – granted at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on November 21 last year and at Glasgow Sheriff Court and Glasgow Justice of the Peace Court on June 14.

Fiscal depute Emma Thomson told the court: “Police were asked to attend at Livingstone Street and saw the accused there, aggressive and agitated.

“While police were carrying out enquiries, without provocation he called one officer a ‘F****n b*****d’ repeatedly.

“He was arrested and conveyed to Clydebank police office. On arrival there was a queue of prisoners waiting to be processed.

“That seemed to infuriate the accused; he became aggressive, swearing, spitting and kicking a police vehicle.

“After waiting for nearly an hour, the accused attempted to manipulate the situation by untying his shoelaces and placing them around his neck.

“He refused to hand them over and told police to ‘f*** off’ or they would ‘get it’.

“Given his aggressive and violent behaviour, pava spray was sprayed on the accused. He was taken into the police station, strip-searched and put into a cell.

“A police witness opened the hatch on the cell door and the accused spat at the witness through the hatch.

“He was cautioned and charged and replied ‘f*** off’”.

Gemmell’s lawyer told the court his client had a long-standing drug problem which was linked to his offending behaviour, and said that on the day of the incident Gemmell – who appeared in court in handcuffs, having been remanded in custody 52 days earlier – was homeless, having lost his tenancy, while his mother had been moved to a home and he couldn’t obtain his methadone prescription.

“He accepts things spiralled out of control,” the lawyer added.

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“He was under the influence of street Valium, which he doesn’t usually take, and it clearly had an effect on him.”

Sheriff William Gallacher noted that the offence was Gemmell’s seventh conviction of 2018-19, telling him: “I have to balance your utterly unpleasant behaviour, particularly towards a police officer, with your offending behaviour over many years.

“I have no option other than a custodial sentence.”

Gemmell’s pleas of not guilty to two further charges – stealing clothes from Matalan and assaulting a police officer by seizing hold of him – were accepted by the Crown.