A man who got into a high-stakes standoff with armed police when he abducted his girlfriend has been sent to prison for more than three years.
Engineer Erik Cameron, 36, provoked a major police incident on June 10 last year when he refused to let the woman leave, held a knife to her throat and told cops he had a gun at the 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’s now been jailed for 40 months and told not to approach or contact that woman for three years.
It comes after he admitted all 11 charges which include 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
Aberdeen Sheriff Court previously heard how police called in specialist firearms officers when Cameron told them he had a weapon.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson said Cameron had got into a high-speed chase with police as he tore through the streets of Kintore and Inverurie in a sports car.
They eventually had to abandon the chase as Cameron accelerated away at speeds of more than 100mph.
The woman ended up on the floor with the accused standing over her “brandishing the hammer”.
The fiscal added: “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.
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.
Specialist firearms officers attended and lengthy attempts were made by the police to negotiate as he made “numerous threats” to shoot anybody who entered.
He would ‘not come out alive’,” the fiscal added.
Police used taser twice
At around 2am, 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.
When he ignored orders to put the knife down police officers stung Cameron with a taser twice.
Cameron was in a ‘complex situation’
Defence agent Lynn Bentley told the court that Cameron suffered from borderline personality disorder and had made “repeated threats to put the knife into his own throat” during the standoff.
“The couple had been getting on fine until whatever was consumed had not worked well with his prescribed medication.”
She added it was a “complex situation”.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told Cameron, who appeared from HMP Grampian, his behaviour was “very serious” and put a lot of people at risk.
‘Poses a serious risk’
“I do think you pose a serious risk to the community and given the number of people impacted and put at risk by your conduct this must be a significant sentence,” she said as she handed him a 40-month sentence and 12-month supervision order to follow that.
She also disqualified Cameron from driving for three years and said he will be on a supervised release order for 12 months upon his liberation.
Cameron must also be assessed for his suitability for the Caledonian domestic abuse rehabilitation programme.
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