McDonald’s offender at Elgin branch in Moray given a month to avoid prison

A man who launched a tirade of abuse inside a branch of McDonald’s has been told he’s got a month to save himself from prison.

Ryan Morrison was first arrested on March 21 after becoming aggressive in a takeaway on Elgin High Street.

He was traced to a pub opposite but was uncooperative with the police who described him as “generally rambling”.

Morrison resisted being arrested and, at one point, questioned if they were really police officers.

Later, at Elgin Police Station, a bag containing £20 of cannabis was found upon him.

Morrison appeared at the town’s sheriff court on March 26 for a preliminary hearing about this offence.

Afterwards he then went drinking in Elgin for the rest of the day.

At about 7pm that evening, while waiting for a bus home back to Buckie, he decided to get some McDonald’s.

Recounting what happened next, fiscal depute Shay Treanor said: “A witness was working in the drive-thru when they saw the accused walk through the hedge and down the grass bank.

“He wanted to place an order but was told he couldn’t if he didn’t have a vehicle.”

After going inside the restaurant Morrison became agitated after he was denied the use of a phone charger.

He then walked behind the counter and into the working area.

The court heard that a member of staff told the 39-year-old he’d have to return to the right side of the counter.

At this point Morrison made an anti-muslim comment, started to speak about Sharia law and drew his finger across his throat in a slitting motion.

He then became aggressive with a customer in the restaurant and asked them outside for a fight.

Sheriff David Harvie, in respect of the offence on Elgin High Street, decided to impose a punishment of 90 hours of unpaid work for the community.

However, the court heard that Morrison still has 170 hours to complete for an unrelated matter.

As the maximum amount of unpaid work is 300 hours, that would mean Morrison could only be given 40 hours for his subsequent behaviour in McDonald’s.

With this in mind, Sheriff Harvie decided to adjourn sentencing in that case for a month.

This, said the sheriff, would allow Morrison to carry out a “substantial” amount of unpaid work for the community before his next court appearance.

Speaking to the defendant, he added: “I really need you to have an excellent report in a month’s time and to have made good progress with the hours that are outstanding.

“We’re looking at pretty substantial number of hours or a custodial sentence.

“The choice is yours.”