A man who demanded a helicopter to London while armed with a vacuum attachment during a siege in Alness had been jailed.
Hostage-taker Patrick Muldoon was handed a two-year sentence after he brandished the implement during an incident in the town’s Westford, claiming to have a firearm.
He had already held a knife to a man’s throat and made threats to kill his partner and stab police.
Muldoon, 24, appeared via videolink at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted charges of threatening behaviour, abduction and assault as well as breaching a bail condition to stay away from his partner.
Alness domestic incident esclated
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told the court that on November 15 last year, police received reports of a domestic incident between Muldoon and his partner.
They went to a house in Westford where Muldoon was heard shouting and swearing. When officers identified themselves a woman came out looking “visibly upset”.
Muldoon then locked the doors before walking around the property shouting: “It’s a siege!”
He appeared at a window and said: “If anyone comes in I will stab them!”
Muldoon grabbed a man who was inside the property and placed him in a headlock, stating: “I’ve a hostage – if police barge in the door I will stab him and the police”
He then began to damage the inside of the property.
Officers asked the other man if he was able to get out but he told them he couldn’t, after which Muldoon grabbed a kitchen knife and held it to the man’s throat stating: “I’m going nowhere.”
“The accused was observed to repeatedly hold a knife to the throat of [the hostage]” Ms Love told the court.
Muldoon then went to the upstairs of the property and began shouting to his partner, calling her a “fat c***” and saying he would kill her.
Alness siege declared firearms incident
He told police he had been released from prison and had come to Alness to “get his hole” – in spite of a bail conditions preventing him from approaching or contacting the woman.
He then stated that he had a firearm in the house before brandishing what was later confirmed to be a vacuum attachment. This resulted in a firearms incident being declared.
Negotiators were brought in and Muldoon made demands, including a helicopter to take him to London.
The court was told the siege, which had lasted several hours, was eventually brought to an end at around 5am.
Solicitor Ewan Crombie for Muldoon, whose address was given as a prisoner in Barlinnie, said his client was a young man with a number of mental health issues, including autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, who had endured a difficult upbringing.
Alness siege ‘a terrifying ordeal’
He said Muldoon was “aware that this course of conduct was completely unacceptable,” and added: “It would have been, frankly, a terrifying ordeal for the complainer and police officers.”
Sheriff Sara Matheson told Muldoon that there was “no alternative” to a custodial sentence “given the siege situation and your appalling record”.
She jailed him for two years, backdated to November 18 of last year.
The sheriff also made Muldoon subject to a non-harrassment order preventing him from contacting the woman involved for five years.