Postal worker behind illegal 'rave' during Covid pandemic escapes jail
Last updated 1st Nov 2021
A 33-year-old man who organised an illegal "rave" in the Scottish Borders amid tight Covid restrictions has escaped a jail sentence.
David Robertson, from Edinburgh, previously admitted two charges of culpable and reckless conduct following a party in Deepsyke Forest, near West Linton.
He also spat on a police officer called out to the event on September the 5th last year - exposing him and the wider community to the risk of infection.
Selkirk Sheriff Court was told 19 people were in attendance, when the maximum group size allowed outdoors was 15 from no more than five households.
While those in attendance did so at their own free will, Sheriff Peter Paterson said that the restrictions were in place to protect everyone and there was a risk they could have gone on to pass the virus on to others.
He described them as "serious offences" and imposed a home curfew order on Robertson as a direct alternative to custody.
That means the postal worker, who works night shift in a Royal Mail sorting office, must stay at home between the hours of 8am and 4pm for the next nine months.
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