Gunman has 'unduly lenient' prison sentence more than doubled after appeal

Appeal judges have more than doubled an “unduly lenient” sentence given to a man who pointed what appeared to be a gun at a terrified police officer.

David Docherty, 35, was handed a 40-month long jail term earlier this year for pointing a weapon at a police officer on April 24, 2021 in Finnieston.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how the officer had approached the vehicle after pulling it in due to a potential insurance issue before Docherty had “leaned over” and pointed the weapon at the constable who immediately “dropped to his knees”.

The car then raced off at “excessive speeds” even in the face of oncoming traffic while the officer was left in an “upset state” by what happened.

The vehicle – which was found to have false number plates – was later discovered to have been torched in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.

Docherty was linked to the car due to fingerprints and having been earlier captured on petrol station CCTV filling up such a vehicle.

Months earlier, he had shot through the living room window of a house in the city’s Cardonald area with a shotgun.

Luckily, no one was in the house at the time.

Docherty was found guilty of having a firearm or imitation gun with intent to cause the police officer to believe violence would be used against him.

He was also found guilty of culpably and recklessly discharging the 12-bore shotgun as well as possessing the weapon in connection with the Cardonald incident.

He was finally convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Docherty was already serving a four-year sentence imposed last October for torching the cars of prison officers at HMP Kilmarnock at the time of his last High Court appearance.

It was also revealed at the end of proceedings that he had 22 previous convictions.

Last month, Scotland’s most senior prosecutor Dorothy Bain KC addressed the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh and told judges there that judge Macfadyen should have given Docherty more jail time.

The Lord Advocate also told the court that judge Macfadyen hadn’t properly considered Docherty’s previous convictions.

She said that judge Macfadyen hadn’t properly considered the nature of the crimes to which he had been found guilty of during that trial.

In a written judgement issued by the court on Tuesday, judge Lady Dorrian said she and her colleagues Lady Wise and Lord Armstrong agreed with the Lord Advocate’s submissions.

The appeal judges decided that Docherty should serve ten years for the crimes.

Lady Dorrian wrote: “It is clear that the temporary judge underestimated the seriousness of the offences.

“His convictions cover a vast range of offending; apart from the repeated violent offending already referred to, and the carrying and use of weapons, he has convictions for drugs offences, various offences of dishonesty (fraud, forgery, assault and robbery), road traffic offences and breach of conditions of bail or other court orders, all on a repetitive basis.

“He has proven resistant to sentences which were designed to help him, and to rehabilitate, such as probation (tried on more than one occasion and repeatedly breached) and restriction of liberty order, also breached.

“The prospect of rehabilitation is remote and certainly not something which should have been selected for special attention, compared to truly relevant factors such as protection of the public, punishment and public disapproval.

“Having regard to all these factors we consider that a headline cumulo sentence should be one of ten years.”