Court / Prison term for man who threatened to murder social worker

A TWENTY five year old man who admitted threatening to murder a social worker has been sentenced to two months in prison.

Kyle Swannie, of Lerwick’s Hoofields, had previously pleaded guilty to making the threat in a phone call to the social worker’s colleague on 18 October last year.

He behaved in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing, intimating that he knew where both care workers lived, threatening to attend her residence and threatening murder one of them.

In mitigation, defence agent Tommy Allan said his client suffered from ADHD which resulted in a lack of control and anger management issues.

He said there was no question Swannie had “a short fuse” and that was something he needed to learn to manage.

He accepted that “his behaviour here crossed a line”, is ashamed of his actions and “wishes he could turn back the clock”.

Swannie was appearing via video link from custody in relation to another matter and addressed Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday to apologise for his “silly behaviour” during his last court appearance.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said that because Swannie was not currently in a position to carry out unpaid hours as part of a community sentence, custody was the only real option available.

He sentenced Swannie to 60 days, reduced from 90 days to reflect the timing of his guilty plea.