Man smashed windows in drug rampage

Oct 28 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A MAN caused nearly £1000 worth of damage as he smashed six of his neighbour’s windows while on a “legal high”.

The occupants of a house on Griffith Drive in Whitburn were wakened just after 4am on July 9 by the noise of their windows being smashed.

They looked outside and saw neighbour Robert Crookston standing outside with a hammer.

Crookston was heard shouting out: “I am going to kill your family.”

When police arrived they found the 30-year-old outside the property and ordered him to drop the hammer. Crookston was also seen to drop a knife which was attached to a key fob on to the ground.

Fiscal depute Alastair Learmont said the damage caused was estimated at around £900.

“He was later interviewed but was perhaps not as cooperative as he might have been with police officers,” Mr Learmont added.

Crookston, previously of Griffith Drive, Whitburn, but now of Edinburgh pled guilty to being in possession of a knife.

The 30-year-old also admitted the breach of the peace offence.

His solicitor, Stuart Peebles, told the court his client’s lack of cooperation had been down to his condition.

“He was on a legal high drug and during the course of his detention he was taken to hospital due to concerns about his condition,” Mr Peebles added.

“When I saw him he had little or no recollection of what happened that evening because of the drug he had consumed.

“That is not to excuse his behaviour but just to explain it. For some reason he became obsessed with his neighbours on that night but he has no ill feelings of any nature towards them and attributes his feelings that night to the legal drug.”

The solicitor also said the knife was a Stanley blade used by Crookston in his work.

Ordering Crookston to carry out 160 hours of community service Sheriff Martin Edington said: “You do not have the longest schedule of previous convictions and this is a good social enquiry report. But equally these are serious offences and you are not a first offender.

“Anyone caught with a knife always has to consider they are in danger of losing their liberty. I intend to place you on community service as a direct alternative to custody.”

Sheriff Edington also ordered Crookston to pay his victim £900 in compensation.