£200 clean-up bill for dirty cell protest

AN Inverness man who admitted carrying out a dirty protest in a police cell has been ordered by a sheriff to behave himself for three months.

Cleaning costing £200 had to be done after Steven Hendry (39), of Diriebught Court, smeared his own excrement over the cell walls within a custody suite at Burnett Road Police Station, Inverness, on November 12 last year.

Defence agent John McColl told Inverness Sheriff Court on Tuesday how Hendry, who is unemployed, suffers from schizophrenia and other mental health illnesses, and that he has been under the care of a psychiatric hospital for a number of years.

He added: "He is somebody, to put it bluntly, does not have his troubles to seek."

Prior to the incident, he said Hendry had been taken into custody "in his perception for no good reason."

He explained the matter he was in custody for was not ultimately pursued with, and Hendry was "disgruntled".

He added: "He acted in the manner libelled, and it’s accepted it was disgusting behaviour."

Hendry, who is single, pleaded guilty to wilfully or recklessly destroying or damaging the property belonging to another without reasonable excuse and smearing excrement on cell walls.

Sheriff Ian Abercrombie deferred sentence for good behaviour until July 28.