A man got into a high-stakes standoff with armed police when he abducted his girlfriend and held a knife to her throat.
Engineer Erik Cameron, 36, provoked a major police incident on June 10 last year when he refused to let the woman leave and told cops he had a gun at a property in Inverurie.
Police, who negotiated with Cameron for hours when he barricaded the entrance with a bed frame, eventually had to break down the door and taser him twice.
He pleaded guilty at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to 11 changes, including abducting and detaining a woman against her will, brandishing a hammer, seizing her by the neck and pinning her to the ground and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
High-speed chase
They eventually had to abandon the chase as Cameron accelerated away at speeds of more than 100mph.
He later took some cocaine and his partner woke up around midnight to find him “behaving strangely and muttering incoherently” with a hammer tucked into the waistband of his trousers.
Ms Simpson said: “The complainer ended up on the floor with the accused standing over her brandishing the hammer – she was frightened that he would strike her with it.
“He was shouting in her face and she began pleading with him, shouting ‘please, please!’
“The accused then pushed her down, hitting her head against a wall.
“He then seized her by the neck and pinned her to the ground.”
‘I won’t come out alive’
Police received reports of a disturbance coming from the flat and when they arrived could hear the woman in distress from inside the property.
Fearing for her safety, two officers entered the flat and were immediately confronted by Cameron, who was holding a knife.
As police backed away, Cameron told the officers he had “weapons within the property, including firearms”.
At this point, police declared a firearms incident and Cameron barricaded the front door with a bed frame.
Ms Simpson added: “Specialist firearms officers attended and lengthy attempts were made by the police to negotiate with the accused, but he continued to display threatening and alarming behaviour.
“He made numerous threats to shoot anybody who entered the property and he stated he would ‘not come out alive’.
“The complainer could be heard within the property and sounded like she was becoming increasingly distressed.”
Man denies abduction and assault among string of charges over armed police incident in north-east
At around 2am on June 11, police heard Cameron shout “go stick a knife in my neck” and then the woman cry out in distress and decided there was an immediate threat to life.
As police forced entry to the property they found Cameron holding his terrified partner in a headlock and holding a knife to her throat.
Officers ordered him to put the knife down and let go of her but he failed to comply.
They then tasered Cameron, causing him to fall backwards, but he still refused to release the woman or the knife.
It took a second firing of the taser to incapacitate him – giving officers enough time to place handcuffs on him and take the woman to safety.
Prison sentence ‘inevitable’
Defence agent Lynn Bentley told the court that Cameron suffered from borderline personality disorder and had used his bare hand to smash a window during the standoff.
She said: “He was shouting various things about what he was going to do to himself and to the police and that he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life in jail and repeated threats that he will put the knife into his own throat.
“The couple had been getting on fine until whatever was consumed had not worked well with his prescribed medication.
“Now that he is on the right medication, Mr Cameron accepts that there will be a lengthy sentence.”
Telling Cameron that prison was “inevitable”, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin deferred sentence on him until December in order for a supervised release order to be carried out.
She also disqualified Cameron, who appeared from HMP Grampian, from driving and will make consideration of imposing a non-harassment order on his next court date.
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