APPEAL judges have more than doubled an “unduly lenient” sentence given to a gangster who pointed what appeared to be a gun at a terrified police officer. 

David Docherty, 35, was handed a 40-month-long jail term earlier this year by Judge Alasdair Macfadyen for pointing a weapon at PC Tom Marshall on April 24, 2021, in Glasgow’s Finnieston area. 

The High Court in Glasgow had heard how Docherty was sitting in the passenger seat of a Citroen car when he committed the offence.

The motor later sped away from the scene. 

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Judge Macfadyen also heard how just a few months earlier Docherty blasted the living room window of a house in the city's Cardonald area with a shotgun.

Docherty was found guilty of having a firearm or imitation gun with intent to cause PC Marshall to believe violence would be used against him.

Docherty was guilty of culpably and recklessly discharging the 12-bore shotgun as well as possessing the weapon in connection with the Cardonald incident.

He was finally convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Docherty was already serving a four-year sentence imposed last October for torching the cars of prison officers at HMP Kilmarnock at the time of his last high court appearance.

It was also revealed at the end of proceedings that he had 22 previous convictions. 

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Last month, Scotland’s most senior prosecutor Dorothy Bain KC addressed the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh and told judges there that Judge Macfadyen should have given Docherty more jail time. 

The Lord Advocate also told the court that Judge Macfadyen hadn’t properly considered Docherty’s previous convictions. 

She also said that Judge Macfadyen hadn’t properly considered the nature of the crimes of which he had been found guilty during that trial.

In a written judgement issued by the court on Tuesday, Judge Lady Dorrian said she and her colleagues Lady Wise and Lord Armstrong agreed with the Lord Advocate’s submissions.

The appeal judges decided that Docherty should serve 10 years for the crimes. 

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

"The respondent discharged a firearm into a random living room window. The fact that no one was present was no more than the result of luck. 

“The temporary judge was quite wrong to consider this, as it seems he did, as limiting the seriousness of the offence. 

“There is nothing to suggest that the respondent was in fact aware that no one was present in the property.

"Presenting a weapon at a police officer as the respondent did was clearly designed to alarm, intimidate and frighten, and this implies the intent to cause harm.”

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The court during original proceedings heard how police had pulled in the Citroen in Glasgow's Lancefield Quay due to a potential insurance issue.

In his speech to jurors, prosecutor Alex Prentice KC said PC Marshall got out and went to the vehicle.

Mr Prentice described how the passenger in the car "leaned over" and pointed the weapon at the constable, who immediately "dropped to his knees".

The Citreon then raced off at "excessive speeds" even in the face of oncoming traffic.

Jurors heard how PC Marshall was left in an "upset state" by what happened.

The vehicle - which was found to have false number plates - was later discovered to have been torched in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.

Mr Prentice put to jurors: "Why would anyone set fire to a car?

"To remove any possible link to criminality."

Docherty was linked to the car due to fingerprints and having been earlier captured on petrol station CCTV filling up such a vehicle.

The shooting at the house in Cardonald occurred on July 28, 2020.

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

After the verdict, Mr Prentice revealed Docherty had 22 previous convictions for violence, drugs, robbery and reckless conduct.

In the written judgement published on Tuesday, Lady Dorrian said that Judge McFadyen should have taken Docherty’s previous convictions into account in deciding the sentence. 

She wrote that if he had done that, Docherty should have received a longer jail term. 

Lady Dorrian added: “His convictions cover a vast range of offending; apart from the repeated violent offending already referred to, and the carrying and use of weapons, he has convictions for drugs offences, various offences of dishonesty (fraud, forgery, assault and robbery), road traffic offences and breach of conditions of bail or other court orders, all on a repetitive basis. 

“He has proven resistant to sentences which were designed to help him, and to rehabilitate, such as probation (tried on more than one occasion and repeatedly breached) and restriction of liberty order, also breached. 

“The prospect of rehabilitation is remote and certainly not something which should have been selected for special attention, compared to truly relevant factors such as protection of the public, punishment and public disapproval.

“Having regard to all these factors we consider that a headline cumulo sentence should be one of 10 years.”

Deputy Crown Agent Kenny Donnelly said: “The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is committed to improving the criminal justice journey for victims, from the stage of reporting all the way through to sentencing. 

“Prosecutors have a responsibility in legislation to consider appeals based upon undue leniency in sentencing. 

"Such appeals are rare but important to ensure the public interest is properly served. 

"They allow the court to review sentences that the Crown believes fall outside the range of punishment reasonably considered appropriate.  

"COPFS believes that harm caused by offending, and the culpability of the convicted person, must be consistently reflected in sentencing decisions.”