A MUSSELBURGH man who was standing trial accused of attempted murder spat blood in the face of a police officer after he was himself assaulted as he stood in the dock.

Jayson Dodds was part of a gang who were convicted of the savage assault of Rhys Reynolds in an attack at Delta Drive in Musselburgh on December 31, 2018.

Mr Reynolds was struck with knives, a metal pole and a rock, and was left with 36 separate injuries including multiple wounds and facial fractures, as well as bleeding to the brain.

Dodds, who was aged 19 at the time, was acquitted of attempted murder but found guilty of assault to injury and was jailed for four years following the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2019.

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During the trial in August 2019, Dodds was said to have been struck to the face by a co-accused and a fracas broke out in the dock.

During the incident, Dodds, of High Street, Musselburgh, was said to have then spat blood in the face of PC Christopher Bright.

Dodds, now aged 23, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to an amended charge of culpably and recklessly spitting blood at the constable at the High Court in Edinburgh on August 26, 2019.

The Crown accepted the alternative charge of culpable and reckless conduct instead of the original charge of assault.

Lawyer David Allan, representing Dodds, told the court that the offence came about when his client was “assaulted in the dock and the charge is a reaction to that assault”.

Mr Allan said that Dodds had not been of good behaviour since the incident in 2019 and had been released from an 18-month prison sentence on March 5 this year.

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No narration into the high court incident was read out in open court and Sheriff Ian Anderson deferred sentence on Dodds for the preparation of reports to next month.