Prison warning for Gilford man who didn’t recall row

After he was disorderly in a Gilford street an 18-year-old man struggled with police when they tried to arrest him.

Adam Potts, Castleview, Gilford, admitted disorderly behaviour and resisting police when he appeared last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court.

He was sentenced to five months in custody, suspended for two years, and fined a total of £300.

The court heard that on November 1 this year at 4am police in Dunbarton Street, Gilford, saw the defendant shouting abuse at a local resident. They asked him to quieten down but when a resident came out Potts punched this person on the back of the head.

When he was apprehended by police he started struggling. Potts was intoxicated and when interviewed the next day said he had not been involved in any altercation.

A solicitor representing the defendant said he was currently the subject of a community service order.

She added that since this incident Potts has not consumed alcohol and he realised he was at risk of a custodial sentence if he continued with this behaviour.

The solicitor said these were ‘foolish actions while under the influence of intoxication.’

District Judge, Mr Paul Copeland, told Potts the court was running out of options with at least seven relevant convictions on his record. He warned him that if he was convicted again for this sort of behaviour in the foreseeable future he would end up in a young offenders’ centre.