A HIGH Court judge has accused a social worker of "taking leave of her senses" for recommending a dangerous armed robber be given community service.
Lord Uist made the comment during the sentencing of Denis Duffy, 31, who robbed a Chinese restaurant on December 29, 2011, in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.
The judge spoke moments after hearing how Duffy, who has 14 previous convictions, held a knife to Rory Chan, punched him and tried to rob a cash register.
A report which had been prepared for the court on Duffy's character recommended he be given a non-custodial sentence.
However, Lord Uist disagreed and jailed Duffy for four years and eight months. He was also placed on supervision by the authorities for a period of four years following his release from prison.
Lord Uist added: "In light of your criminal record and the circumstances of the crime for which you now appear in this court, I am driven to the conclusion the social worker who assessed you as presenting with a minimum level of criminogenic risks and as suitable for a community-based disposal had taken leave of her senses when she made those assessments.
"On the basis of your criminal history and the commission of this crime, I have no hesitation in coming to the view you present a clear danger to the safety of the public and an extended sentence is called for in this case in order to protect the public from serious harm for you."
The comments emerged following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Duffy, a prisoner of HMP Addiewell, in West Lothian, appeared for sentencing. He had been convicted of armed robbery at an earlier hearing.
On that occasion, the court heard how Duffy visited the Oriental Express in Glencryan Road, Cumbernauld, at 10pm on December 29.
He confronted Mr Chan with a blade and tried to take the store's cash register.
However, Mr Chan and a female employee refused to hand over the till prompting Duffy to flee empty-handed.
Sentence was deferred and Lord Uist ordered social workers to interview Duffy so the court could gain information to inform its judgment.
Despite having seven convictions for assault and seven convictions for breach of the peace, the social worker who interviewed Duffy recommended he be given community service.
This recommendation came despite the fact Duffy had appeared in the High Court before and been given two custodial terms on previous occasions.
Yesterday, Lord Uist told the court he was unhappy with the recommendation.
He told Duffy: "You are now 31 years old. You have a deplorable criminal record dating from February 1999 to June 2009.
"I note in particular your history of problems with alcohol and gambling. Had you been convicted by a jury after trial the custodial term of your sentence would have been seven years imprisonment.
"In view of the stage at which you pleaded guilty that sentence will be discounted to four years eight months imprisonment."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article