Violent criminal claims to be reformed
man deported from australia wants to start new life in highlands
Published:
A VIOLENT criminal, deported from Australia to Scotland after serving time for a vicious attempted murder, was yesterday allowed back on the streets of Inverness.
But Scott Morrison insists he is a “reformed character” and is hoping to start a new life with his wife and children in the Highlands.
The 43-year-old appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted sparking a major gun scare at a hostel in an upmarket area of Inverness earlier this year.
It led to an armed police response with dog handlers but the weapon was an air pistol and yesterday Morrison, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of breach of the peace. He was jailed for two months but the sentence was backdated to April 8, when he was remanded, allowing him to walk free almost immediately.
Australian authorities have described him as “volatile and dangerous”. Police in Perth, Western Australia, were so concerned about his capacity for violence they reportedly used a Taser gun and handcuffs to arrest him before deportation.
After his court appearance from custody yesterday, he said: “I am a reformed character. I just want a chance to make a home for myself and my family in the country, somewhere like a croft.
“When I was deported I was split from my wife Marie, the twins Angus and Seumus, aged three, my 13-year-old daughter and my stepson. I don’t want to do anything that will jeopardise my chances of being with my family again.”
Morrison said his mother, who took him to Australia when he was 11, was prepared to loan him £1,000 as a deposit on a place to rent until he found work.
He claimed that in Australia you can be deported if you serve a jail sentence of more than 12 months, and 20 years ago he was jailed for eight years for attempted murder. He said yesterday he had intended avenging the death of a female cousin who was given drugs by a man but he “stabbed the wrong bloke a couple of times”.
Morrison, who was flown back to Scotland about a year ago, admitted he had a record for assaults against police.
Although he knew and associated with people in the underworld of Western Australia, he denied reports he was a gang member.
“I am a clansman,” he said. “I love my Scottish blood. I just want to be given a chance. I have been torn from my family and sent back to Scotland.”
Morrison admitted that on March 28, at Rossal House, Island Bank Road, Inverness, he conducted himself in a disorderly manner, produced the air pistol, uttered threats of violence and damage to property, and placed the public in a state of fear and alarm.
Fiscal depute Alison Smith said the owner and manager of Rossal House were showing an architect through the building when Morrison appeared with the air pistol. Miss Smith added: “This caused them some alarm. One of the members of staff remonstrated with him and he told them it was an air pistol and wasn’t loaded.
“He pointed it to the floor and discharged it to show it wasn’t loaded.”
When the hostel owner went to call the police Morrison said: “I don’t have a criminal record and if I get one I will burn this house down and kill you.”
Miss Smith said the police treated the incident as potentially involving an actual firearm. Two “junior” air pistols were found.
Defence solicitor Iain Innes said: “While in Scotland, he thinks of nothing else but his wife and children joining him. He wants to be given a chance to rent a house in the country, somewhere with a piece of land. He wants to leave behind the difficulties he had in Australia and change.”
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