“Inappropriately lenient” prison sentence for shooter more than doubled after appeal

Appeal judges have more than doubled the “excessively lenient” sentence given to a man who pointed an alleged weapon at a frightened police officer.

David Docherty, 35, was sentenced to 40 months in prison earlier this year for pointing a gun at a police officer in Finnieston on April 24, 2021.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how the officer had approached the vehicle after stopping it for potential insurance reasons before Docherty “leaned forward” and pointed the gun at the policeman, who immediately “fell to his knees”.

The car then sped off at “excessive speed” despite oncoming traffic, while the officer was “upset” about what had happened.

It later emerged that the vehicle, which had false number plates, had been set on fire in Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire.

Docherty was linked to the car based on his fingerprints and because he had previously been captured on a gas station's surveillance camera while refueling such a vehicle.

Months earlier, he had fired a shotgun through the living room window of a house in the Cardonald district.

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

Docherty was found guilty of possessing a firearm or imitation weapon with the intent to deceive a police officer into believing that violence would be used against him.

He was also found guilty of culpable and reckless discharge of the 12-gauge shotgun and possession of the weapon in connection with the Cardonald incident.

He was eventually convicted of attempted obstruction of justice.

At the time of his last appearance before the High Court, Docherty was already serving a four-year prison sentence imposed on him last October for setting fire to prison guards' cars at HMP Kilmarnock.

At the end of the trial, it also emerged that he had 22 previous convictions.

Last month, Scotland's senior prosecutor, Dorothy Bain KC, addressed the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh and told judges there that Judge Macfadyen should have sentenced Docherty to a longer prison term.

The Lord Advocate also told the court that Judge Macfadyen had not adequately taken into account Docherty's previous convictions.

She said Judge Macfadyen did not sufficiently consider the nature of the crimes he was found guilty of during the trial.

In a written judgment published by the court on Tuesday, Judge Lady Dorrian said she and her colleagues Lady Wise and Lord Armstrong agreed with the Lord Advocate's comments.

The appeal judges ruled that Docherty should serve a ten-year prison sentence for these crimes.

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

“His convictions cover a wide range of offences. Apart from the repeated offences of violence and the carrying and use of weapons already mentioned, he has been repeatedly convicted of drug offences, various offences of dishonesty (fraud, forgery, assault and robbery), driving offences and breaches of bail conditions or other court orders.

'He has shown himself to be resistant to sentences designed to help him and promote his rehabilitation, such as suspended sentences (which have been attempted on more than one occasion and repeatedly breached) and restriction of liberty orders, which have also been breached.

“The prospect of rehabilitation is slim and certainly not something to which special attention should be given compared to truly relevant factors such as public protection, punishment and public disapproval.

“Taking all these factors into account, we believe the maximum prison sentence should be ten years.”

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