Extra jail time for sex offender who tried to cut himself with knife in Highland court dock
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A sex offender who smuggled a knife into a court and tried to injure himself after he was imprisoned for 14 months had another 32 months added to his term.
Father-of-five Robin Parker, of Bridge Street, New Byth, Turriff had appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court on December 20, 2022 having been convicted after trial of sex offences in November that year.
But when Sheriff Sara Matheson jailed him for 14 months, he pulled out the knife, disguised as a plastic credit card, and shouted: "I am not going to prison."
He was restrained by court officials, police and a prisoner custody officer and only inflicted a superficial cut.
Today, Parker appeared before Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald by video link in the same court and admitted having unlawful possession of a knife and threatening behaviour in the dock.
The sheriff said she was considering remitting him to the High Court for sentence because the offences were so serious, particularly being committed in court, but decided to deal with it herself.
She told him that he had tried to disrupt justice and court proceedings with "a performance which was shocking and designed to cause as much alarm as possible. It was intolerable.
"These were deliberate acts flouting the authority of the court."
Parker had tried to convince Sheriff Macdonald through his solicitor, Stephen Carty, that he had the knife only for camping and intended to hand it in to the police station next door that day. But he claimed he had forgotten.
Sheriff Macdonald disagreed. "I do not accept you did not intend to bring it into court. You bought it between conviction and sentencing. You knew exactly where it was. You pulled it out of your pocket in an instant.
"It involved planning and you put the people who work here and members of the public at risk."
The court heard a lawyer sitting in front of Parker saw him reach into his clothing and produce what looked like a black credit card which unfolded into a knife.
He made a motion as defence solicitor Clare Russell, who was not involved in the case, gasped: "He's got a knife."
Mayhem ensued as prisoner custody officer Andrea Stewart, PC David Grant and fiscal depute Robert Weir intervened and he was restrained and disarmed.
The court heard the metal detector which had only been installed a few months previously, had not detected the item.
The 55-year-old had previously been found guilty after trial of a number of offences including sexual assault.
A jury had heard how Parker told a woman his mum had cancer and asked for a hug before pushing her onto a bed and attempting to strip her from the waist down.
The incident was the culmination of a course of unwanted “dirty or flirty” behaviour towards the woman by Parker, which included offering her money to see her private parts and pulling down her trousers to touch her against her will.
The victim was one of two women with the other telling how he had targeted her after offering lifts. On one occasion he showed her a sexual image and requested she do the same.
On another, he insisted she kiss him on the lips. The offences took place in Perth and Kinross and Moray between 2007 and 2016.
Mr Carty said his client had been advised to hand the item in to the police but had forgotten.
"When he was sentenced, he misheard and thought he got 14 years," he said. "It set panic racing through him and he acted foolishly. He felt under enormous pressure."
