A man who staged a four-hour siege that prompted an armed police response has been jailed.
Police cordoned off Burgage Drive in Tain after John McDonald appeared at a window with a knife, threatening to harm himself and officers.
An armed response unit was called in and, following lengthy negotiations, McDonald eventually surrendered his weapons and was placed under arrest by officers.
McDonald, 44, appeared via videolink at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour and breach of a bail condition in relation to the incident on May 17 of this year.
He also admitted charges of vandalism and assault relating to separate incidents.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court that the standoff began at around 2pm when McDonald entered an address in Burgage Drive that he had been ordered to stay away from.
The occupant of the property left by the back door and contacted police.
When officers arrived they observed McDonald standing at the kitchen window, holding a kitchen knife in his hand, said Mr Weir.
Man ‘ran knife over his throat’
“The accused proceeded to point at the police, then to the back door of the locus, then ran the knife over his throat and pointed back at the police.”
McDonald also picked up a bottle of bleach and mimed drinking it.
Police at the scene called for backup and set up a cordon in the street before attempting to speak to McDonald through the letterbox of the property.
Mr Weir said: “The accused continued to hold the kitchen knife and refused to leave, stating he didn’t want to go to prison.
“The accused then began repeatedly hitting the knife off the rear door, which caused the blade to break. The accused handed police the blade of the knife through the letterbox and appeared to be calmer.”
McDonald agreed to speak to officers at the kitchen window, but when he got there he held up another knife, along with a corkscrew, which “he held out as though it were a weapon”.
McDonald then noticed additional officers had arrived and became “irate”, knocking a glass to the floor and breaking it, before a decision was taken that the incident merited the attendance of armed response vehicles.
When officers from the armed response unit arrived they spent three hours negotiating with McDonald and could hear “crashing and smashing sounds” from within the property.
“About 5.30pm McDonald handed the knife he had been brandishing to one of the armed officers through the kitchen window,” Mr Weir told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald.
McDonald eventually agreed to exit the address around 6.30pm, around four hours after officers first arrived at the scene.
After being briefly treated by a paramedic crew for cuts to his feet he was put in a police vehicle and taken to Burnett Road Police Station in Inverness.
Tain armed siege arrest
During the journey McDonald kicked at the walls of the cell, leaving bloody smears from his cut feet, and on arrival at the police station he began acting aggressively towards officers.
Mr Weir also described how McDonald had previously vandalised the home of a woman he was staying with following his release from prison and assaulted her by slapping and nipping her in unprovoked attacks.
On one occasion the assault occurred after McDonald saw a police car pass the house with its blue lights on.
He told the woman: “That’s for you grassing me up.”
Solicitor John MacColl explained his client had a problem with alcohol misuse and poor mental health.
He said: “Alcohol has been the root cause of the difficulties. He has suffered his whole adult life and going back into adolescence.”
He said that following his conviction his client had said: “I was struggling my head was not working.”
But Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told McDonald: “Whatever your mental health problems are it does not excuse your behaviour.
“You caused an almighty drama, a four-hour siege in effect, causing police to turn up with an armed response unit. In those circumstances only a custodial sentence is appropriate”
She jailed McDonald, who was described as “a prisoner”, for 18 months.
