A MAN managed to send text messages to a witness asking her to withdraw her statement despite being in custody.

Ionut Carlomete sent the desperate messages while he was being held at Dunfermline Police Station.

Police later said that he must have taken the opportunity while he was given his phone temporarily to get a number from it.

Appearing for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday, Carlomete, 30, of Haig Crescent, Dunfermline, had previously admitted that on November 9, at Dunfermline Police Station, while being a suspect in relation to an allegation of assaulting his partner and while being held in police custody, he sent her text messages attempting to persuade her to retract her police statement and, therefore, did attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said Carlomete had "inexplicably" been granted access to his phone while in custody. His partner attended at the police station and said she had been sent four text messages.

In them he said: "Please get me out of here, please take back your statement", "They are going to send me to court on Monday and they will judge me and condemn me" and "Please, they are going to condemn me."

Mr Kapadia added: "Police were asked to urgently investigate how, when his phone was taken from him when he was being booked in, was he allowed access to his phone to send his message.

"An explanation has been provided that there was an issue with contacting a responsible named person while in custody and he may have been given his phone to get a contact number for police but took the opportunity to send the messages."

Solicitor Elaine Buist said her client had been remanded since November 11 in relation to the matter.

Sheriff Alastair Brown ordered Carlomete to do 90 hours of unpaid work within six months.

He told him: "Trying to get a witness to withdraw a statement given to the police is very serious. Having spent time on remand in prison, you have probably worked that out."