A couple who run an ice cream business say they are baffled as to why an Aberdeen drug addict doused their van with petrol and tried to set it on fire.
Jamie Howell was dressed all in black when he turned up in the quiet village of Daviot near Oldmeldrum and targeted Elizabeth Taylor and Neil Robertson’s Miss Whippy Delight van.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told Howell, 40, had accrued a debt and had been sent to torch the van to give the couple “a scare”.
Speaking after the case, Elizabeth said she believed it was a case of mistaken identity and described the petrol attack as “evil”.
“We were victims of a very, very serious thing and we don’t know why,” she said, adding: “Why were we targeted?”
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson told the court that at around 9.10pm on February 6 last year, Elizabeth was driving towards her house when she saw a man dressed all in black, stumbling around the street and the pavement.
Five minutes later, Elizabeth and Neil went to their living room window where they saw Howell waving around a green object, which they realised was a petrol can.
Howell then began to pour petrol all over their ice cream van.
The couple went outside to try to stop Howell and he began waving the petrol can around while shouting and acting in an aggressive manner.
“You are messing with the wrong motherf******,” Howell told them. “We will get you.”
Neil confronted Howell and told him the police had been contacted, causing him to run off still clutching the petrol can.
‘We are just a family business’
A short time later, Howell returned and began running back down the street towards the couple’s home, causing Neil to restrain him over his fear of what he might do next.
Howell then got free and ran away for a second time as the police arrived on the scene.
A search began to find Howell with the police enlisting Neil and some members of the public, who soon located him and restrained him until officers arrived and arrested him.
Upon searching Howell’s pockets, the police found he had a lighter in his possession.
In the dock, Howell pleaded guilty to one charge of wilfully attempting to set a fire.
Elizabeth and Neil say they are still baffled why they were targeted and have since put up security cameras around their property to feel safe.
“We are just a family business,” Neil said, adding: “It’s our whole livelihood.”
Mum-of-three Elizabeth added: “It was a disgusting and evil thing for someone to do – we can’t get to the bottom as to why someone would do it.”
Accused was sent to give couple ‘a scare’
Defence solicitor Neil McRobert told the court that his client had a history of drug abuse and that heroin and crack cocaine addiction had played a large role in Howell’s offending.
“With regard to this offence, he had a drug debt and to address the debt – or part of the debt – he agreed to carry out this offence,” the solicitor said.
“Mr Howell does not have a great recollection of what occurred but did make comments that suggest he was sent there to give these people a scare – but I do not know what the background is to that.”
Mr McRobert also told the court that his client had been servicing a “significant” prison sentence in relation to other matters and asked the court to help Howell address his long-term drug problem.
Sheriff Philip Mann told Howell: “The easy thing for me to do would be to send you to custody, but in the long run I’m not sure that would achieve anything and we would just end up back here.”
The sheriff said that it was “with some trepidation” that he would release Howell, of Hazelwood Terrace, Aberdeen, and make him subject to a two-year drug treatment and testing order.
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