WPC stab teen jail term quashed

Brian Hossack • Published 26 Feb 2010 14:00

A TEENAGER who laughed as he repeatedly stabbed a policewoman with a broken bottle has had his prison sentence quashed by appeal judges.

Jonathan Reekie, 18, was jailed by Sheriff John Herald for eight months in October after admitting plunging the neck of a vodka bottle into the WPC's stomach several times.

Lord Carloway, who heard the appeal with Lord Gill, said they were persuaded custody was not the only option - and ordered the student to carry out 200 hours of community service instead.

Greenock Sheriff Court originally heard how the weapon ripped through the hooded top the woman had been wearing on the night of the attack and how only her stab-proof vest had saved her from serious injury.

A community warden who witnessed the assault told police he thought Reekie was going to kill the policewoman.

He said: "I saw him stab her three or four times with real force. I thought she was a goner."

At the time Sheriff Herald said he would be 'failing in his public duty' if he did not impose a custodial sentence on Reekie, describing the incident as 'terrifying' for the victim.

The judge said at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh they had found it a 'difficult and anxious case', with Lord Carloway adding: "Fortunately for the officer, she was wearing a stab-proof vest."

The plain-clothes officers were attacked after moving in when they saw Reekie and another male facing up to each other in Dalrymple Street.

Solicitor advocate Iain Paterson said the youth was due to complete a course in sound production in the summer if he remained at liberty.

Reekie had earlier been freed pending his High Court appeal against the sentence, lodged by solicitor Aidan Gallagher.

Reekie, of Gordon Street, Greenock, had pled guilty to assaulting the police constable by repeatedly striking her with a broken bottle and attacking a male colleague of hers by attempting to hit him with the weapon on 31 October 2008.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 26 Feb 10

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