A man has narrowly avoided jail after police officers were spat and coughed at as they broke-up a lockdown gathering in East Kilbride.
Liam Cleary, 21, admitted two charges of police assault at Hamilton Sheriff Court this week.
Officers were met with hostility when they went to a house in Phoenix Court on January 30, 2021.
At the time Scotland was in a Covid-19 lockdown, with people ordered not to leave home unless for an essential purpose.
Cleary, of Leman Drive, Johnstone, was accused of trying to prevent officers entering the property, filming them, refusing to provide his details and urging other people to do the same.
However, his not guilty plea to that charge was accepted and an allegation that he shouted abuse and threats was also dropped.
Defence agent Vincent McGovern said his client aspires to be a sports coach, but at the time of this incident he was drinking too much and had an "out of control lifestyle".
The solicitor added: "Police officers put themselves in the frontline during the pandemic in order to protect the public.
"The risk to them was heightened by this type of conduct.
"This gathering should not have happened. The officers should not have required to be there."
Sheriff Liam Murphy said custody for such assaults "had to be uppermost in the court's mind".
However, Cleary had recently been given a community payback order in relation to another matter and the sheriff was prepared to see if he could benefit from that.
Sentence was deferred until December for good behaviour.
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