A thug who caused the death of three teens in a horror car crash threatened to “slit the throats” of police officers after being arrested.
Robbie Gemmell banged his head on the cage of a police van and aimed homophobic abuse at cops who detained him in Haddington, East Lothian.
The officers had been called to reports of a “disturbance” and encountered drunk Gemmell, 25, who targeted them with vile threats.
Gemmell was behind the wheel of pal Jenna Barbour’s Peugeot 206 when it careered into a brick wall in November 2013.
Jenna, 18, was killed along with fellow passengers Josh Stewart, 16, and David Armstrong, 15, near Tyninghame, in the county.
Gemmell, then 16, was given a four-year driving ban and unpaid work after admitting causing the trio’s deaths by driving without due care and attention.
He appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday and pled guilty to acting in a threatening or abusive manner in Haddington’s West Road and on a journey to the city’s St Leonards police station.
Fiscal depute Matthew Miller said officers found Gemmell “really intoxicated” after being called to a disturbance at around 8.20pm.
Mr Miller said Gemmell repeatedly tried to walk away from the constables and told them to “f**k off”.
The court heard a “struggle ensued” and Gemmell behaved in “an aggressive and unruly manner”.
Mr Miller said: “At 8.30pm officers managed to get Mr Gemmell under control and arrested him.”
Gemmell was put in the back of a police van where he “banged his head against the cage” and called the officers p**fs”.
The prosecutor added: “Mr Gemmell said that when he was out of the van he would ‘slit their f***ing throats’.”
Defence agent Angela Craig said Gemmell had been out with a pal and his friend’s girlfriend when an argument broke out between the couple.
Ms Craig said the girlfriend called police after Gemmell, who works for his father’s company, had “tried to defuse the situation” on July 1 last year.
The solicitor said her client had behaved “entirely unacceptably” and drink had “affected his decision-making” when dealing with the officers.
Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss told Gemmell: “This was bad behaviour for no apparent reason whatsoever.”
The sheriff fined Gemmell, of Dunbar, £640.
Gemmell was also back in court last month when he escaped another road ban despite admitting careless driving when he smashed into a roundabout and overturned his car.
The collision happened just three miles from the spot where the three teens died.
Back in 2013, Gemmell lost control of the Peugeot near Tyninghame and ploughed head-on into a wall.
Gemmell initially told cops he was a front seat passenger and Jenna was driving, but broke down and confessed after a police investigation proved he was lying.
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