Scotland’s dumbest criminal jailed again after hurling anti-ginger abuse at cop

The man dubbed Scotland’s dumbest criminal has been jailed for more than three years after hurling bigoted and “anti-ginger” abuse at a red-haired police officer.

David McGregor also attacked his partner on the day she buried her mother and kicked and spat at another police officer as he was being arrested. McGregor told the officer: “I’ll f***ing murder you, ya ginger b******, when I’m out of jail. Take your uniform off when we get to custody and we can fight it out.

“I bet you were born in a carrot field, you carrot-top c***. I’ll knock your f***ing head off man. All police are kiddy fiddlers and beasts. You’re all animals.”

McGregor, 52, was jailed for 38 months at Dundee Sheriff Court after he admitted a string of crimes of violence and dishonesty. He admitted having a knife at Tesco in Perth on 28 January, and stealing £80 cash from Duigan Chiropractic on 10 February last year.

He admitted assaulting his partner Elisabeth Reid, 46, by striking her on the head and punching her body to her injury at Giacopazzis in Kinross on 21 April. On 21 April 2023, he admitted making threats and derogatory remarks in a police vehicle on the M90, at Dunfermline police station and Perth Royal Infirmary.

He also admitted attacking PC Lewis Millar by trying to headbutt him, kicking him on the body and spitting on him. And on the same date, he admitted chucking cereal at the walls in his partner’s daughter’s home.

Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson told the court: “The accused and Ms Reid have been together for 13 years. They were in Kinross for the funeral of her mother. The accused was seen punching the complainer’s stomach repeatedly. The complainer was on the ground trying to defend herself. She had a cut and swelling to her face.”

When police quizzed him about the domestic attack, McGregor said: “I only hit her because she was wanting to set in aboot me and go to a funeral oot her face.”

He told officers he would stab them and McGregor was also made subject to a 12-months supervised release order to protect the public upon his release. McGregor earned his unwanted nickname thanks to a series of hapless incidents among the 188 offences he has previously been convicted of.

In 2020, he was caught trying to rob a house minutes after being freed from court – because he left his named bail papers at the scene of the crime. McGregor was first dubbed Scotland’s dumbest criminal after ending up in hospital with a broken hip when a house robbery went badly wrong for him.

He was in the middle of the raid when the homeowner returned and caught him in the act of rifling through the first floor bedroom. In a panic, McGregor swallowed a handful of the jewellery he had stolen and leapt out of the window to escape the irate householder.

But he slipped on the icy ground below and landed awkwardly, before hobbling off in agony with a broken hip. He was arrested nearby and taken to hospital where a stomach X-ray clearly showed the £4,000 haul of rings he had stolen.

A police officer then waited at his bedside for nine days – and five enemas – before McGregor finally passed the jewellery. That episode earned him 11 months prison. The bungling crook was also jailed for stealing a quantity of toys from Toy World in Perth High Street. And he was jailed for 145 days for threatening a member of court staff who refused to make him a cup of tea.

In April 2013, he was jailed for 530 days after he was caught stealing a TV – on TV. He was captured on CCTV walking out of a High Street store in broad daylight with the television under his arm. As he was jailed he called the sheriff “a fucking bawbag.”

In 2012 the father-of-one was jailed after he sat on a shelf while robbing TK Maxx – because he was so high he thought he was on a fairground waltzer ride. In 2010, McGregor was jailed for 382 days after the same court was told he thought he was “the invisible man” as he carried out crimes in clear view of witnesses.

The court has also heard that McGregor once tried to steal four bottles of whisky from Asda by hiding them all in his trousers. On another occasion he was watched climbing into an elderly woman’s house and was easy to spot by police because he was wearing distinctive white gloves like a snooker referee.

More recently he was jailed for six months in 2018 when he left his rucksack behind after robbing a charity shop. He was identified by his DNA.

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