A teenager has been fined over £500 for pushing a female officer at McDiarmid Park on a match day then being caught with £200 worth of cocaine stuffed down his shorts.
Nineteen-year-old Nathan Ford from Dundee shoved the officer after she challenged him about a bag he was seen taking out of his shorts as he made his way through the stadium during a Tayside derby last year, Perth Sheriff Court heard last Wednesday.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lewis said Ford had already been ordered to leave the North Stand for being too drunk during the St Johnstone versus Dundee United game when he was seen on CCTV to be acting shiftily with the bag.
“The accused was ejected from the North Stand for being intoxicated,” she said. “He has placed his hand in his shorts and produced a small bag containing a white powder.”
Ms Lewis said the female officer then challenged Ford about the bag and he pushed her causing her to lose her footing.
“Upon approach he has pushed her to the body, causing her to stumble backwards,” she said. “He was searched and a small bag was found in his right hand jacket pocket.”
Ms Lewis said the white powder in the bag was later found to be cocaine but its value was thought to be “nominal”.
However she added when Ford was later transferred to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for a check-up he was then caught with a second bag he had been concealing in his shorts, this time containing around £200 worth of the Class A drug.
Ford, of Isla Street, Dundee, previously pled guilty to assaulting the female officer by pushing her on the body at McDiarmid Park on August 22 last year and being in possession of cocaine on the same date.
Last week solicitor Linda Clark said Ford had no previous convictions and no other outstanding matters to deal with in court.
She said he had gone on to gain employment as an apprentice roofer since the incident and suggested his offending could be dealt with by way of a financial penalty.
“This has been a wake-up call for him,” she added.
Sheriff James MacDonald fined Ford £200 for assaulting the police officer and a further £300 for possessing cocaine.
Ford was also ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge and was told to pay the total amount at a rate of £25 per week.
