A SCOTTISH Premiership footballer is facing jail after admitting attacking a police officer.
Dundee star Paul McGowan, 27, kicked PC Jamie White after he was arrested during a fracas in November last year.
The incident happened less than 24 hours after he had played in Dundee's 2-1 defeat to Celtic at Celtic Park in November.
McGowan, of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, who has two previous convictions for police assault, yesterday appeared at the town's sheriff court where he admitted one charge of shouting and swearing and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
He also admitted assaulting PC White at Coatbridge police station.
McGowan spoke only to confirm his guilty plea and the full facts will be heard at the sentencing date.
McGowan was arrested in the early hours of November 23 after an incident at a house in Airdrie.
The midfielder was originally also charged with resisting arrest, obstructing and hindering a total of five police constables as they tried to do their job and struggling violently with them.
However his not guilty plea to that offence was accepted by prosecutors.
McGowan was sentenced to 130 hours of unpaid work and a one-year supervision order last year for attacking two police officers in 2013.
He admitted kicking police constable Edward Gilmartin and repeatedly kicking police constable Tony Fitzpatrick in Airdrie and at Coatbridge Police Station in August 2013. The officers intervened when McGowan and his father rowed after a night out.
Frontline police officers later criticised the "soft" sentence, with Brian Docherty, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, saying an attack on police officers was an "attack on the fabric of society".
Yesterday Sheriff Janys Scott deferred sentence for background reports until April 15.
She said: "There's a bit of a recent history here so I am going to call for reports.
"I am going to adjourn sentence and ask for criminal justice social work reports."
McGowan refused to comment outside court.
Midfielder McGowan has played for a number of senior Scottish clubs including Celtic, Hamilton and Morton. He joined Dundee last summer from St Mirren.
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