Motherwell drunk slumped in doorway missed baby’s first Christmas after lashing out

Garry Connelly fought with officers who went to help him and they then discovered a knife in his pocket.

His lawyer, Luke O’Curry, told Hamilton Sheriff Court: “If he hadn’t been quite so intoxicated and had made it through his front door he wouldn’t be here today.”

Connelly, 29, a prisoner, admitted charges of police assault, resisting arrest and possession of a knife.

He was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid community work.

Connelly was given a four-month electronic tagging order.

Jennifer McLaren, prosecuting, said officers responded to a call about a man lying outside a house in Motherwell shortly before 11pm on December 22.

They woke him and, due to his behaviour, took him to University Hospital Wishaw.

However, Connelly became aggressive, punched PC Blair Carson repeatedly and tried to bite PC Eilidh Archibald on the arm.

He was struggling violently and eventually the officers took him to Motherwell police station where he was kept in custody.

A lock knife was subsequently recovered from his trousers pocket.

Mr O’Curry said Connelly, a scaffolder, used the knife in his job.

He insisted was no sinister reason for him having it.

The solicitor explained: “There were pre-Christmas drinks at his place of employment and he went there straight after work.

“He should have taken the knife home first, but he still had it.

“Later he was intoxicated and when the police found him outside his house he was unconscious.

“His reaction when he came round in the back of a police van was he didn’t want to be there and just wanted to go home.”

Mr O’Curry admitted his client has a bad record, but said he had not been in trouble for nearly two years before this.

He added: “As a result of this incident he has been in custody and missed his child’s first Christmas.”