An Ullapool man who confronted two lorry drivers and armed police with a replica AK47 was jailed for 18 months today.
It wasn’t until officers, who had travelled almost 60 miles from Inverness, disarmed 57-year-old Andrew Partrick that it was discovered the assault rifle was an imitation.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Sarah Matheson told him: “This was a highly distressing incident for those who encountered you, made worse by your threats.
“A man apparently armed with an assault rifle, particularly in a rural community like yours, will have been of great concern and unexpected.
“No-one knew it was not a genuine firearm but you.”
The drama began about 11.30pm on November 2, 2020, in Shore Street in Ullapool as the first lorry driver was sitting in the cab of his HGV petrol tanker.
Fiscal depute Martina Eastwood told Inverness Sheriff Court that first offender Partrick, of St Valery Place, came up to the tanker with the fake firearm across his chest.
The second tanker driver encountered Partrick about 45 minutes later, also near the pier.
The driver, fearing for his life, engaged him in small talk and took refuge in the nearby harbour watch room.
Ms Eastwood said police arrived 15 minutes later, to be reinforced shortly afterwards by the armed response unit.
Later at Burnett Road Police Station in Inverness, Partrick made various threats to officers after being charged, including “you will be shot in six months time” and “I’m going to burn your kids”.
Defence solicitor Patrick O’Dea said: “He has struggled with his mental health and hadn’t been following his regimen for his medication.”