SENTENCING STATEMENTS

In delivering sentence, Judge Gallacher made the following comments in court:

“Around lunchtime on 6 May 2024 four police officers were on duty in the area of Buchlyvie Road in Paisley dealing with incidents which had affected members of the public living there.

Two officers then got into their police car intending to return to Paisley to continue their duties. The marked police vehicle stopped at the junction of Glasgow Road to give way to traffic.

Thus far, this was an ordinary day for all of the police officers involved. What happened then was utterly out of the ordinary.

You were driving a car which collided with the police vehicle.  You got out of that vehicle and having glanced at the collision and the damage to the police vehicle, you began to run away.  PC Gary Cowan managed to get out of his damaged vehicle to carry out his normal duties to investigate the road traffic accident and to speak to you.

As soon as you saw him do that you returned to your car, opened the rear door and from the rear of the car removed a chainsaw.  You removed it from the bag in which it was contained, then removed the guard rail on the chain and started up and roared the engine of the chainsaw.  As you did so you shouted, in English, an abusive remark about the police.

PC Cowan, on seeing and hearing this, was compelled to try and escape from you and ran off.  You then sprinted after him all the while roaring the engine of the chainsaw and holding it out in front of you shouting abusive remarks about the police over and over.

PC Cowan explained to the jury that he was terrified and thought that if he did not get away from you, you were going to chop off his limbs and that you were going to kill him.

You chased the officer in this awful and terrifying way over some significant distance down the roadway of a busy public road.

Much of this was recorded by CCTV or on mobile phones and it was obvious that you were in hot pursuit, wielding a deadly weapon, with little apparent regard for anything or anyone else other than PC Cowan. 

The video evidence showed several cars and other vehicles having to slow or stop when it was obvious to the drivers of the vehicles that a man wielding a chainsaw was chasing after a police officer.  One member of the public described trying to persuade PC Cowan to enter his vehicle as he put it “to save his life”.

PC Cowan’s colleagues who had been in Buchlyvie Road, and others, were alerted by his emergency call for assistance and then set off to Glasgow Road.  The recorded images showed you in pursuit of PC Cowan but then turning when you became aware of the other police officers and you then moved in their direction which understandably prompted them to retreat.  As they did so you returned your attention to PC Cowan and pursued him again.

It was clear that the officers were trying to create a safe space around you for their own security and protection, and also for the protection of the public who were caught up in the middle of this violent scene. 

At some point you gave up your attack upon PC Cowan and stopped running and put down the chainsaw which was thrown out of your reach by another member of the public.  You were then subdued and arrested by PC Cowan and the officers who had been initially present in Buchlyvie Rd., together with many others who arrived to assist one of their colleagues in such a dangerous situation.

In considering many instances of violence over the years in courts throughout Scotland I have never encountered the use of a chainsaw as a weapon being wielded.  Many might have thought that this was the stuff only of horror films.

To the social worker who interviewed you there was some suggestion of remorse but in the context of you having been badly treated by the police and the claim that it was the police who pushed you to be angry but there is no context or justification for that nor any possibility of that having included PC Cowan.

Counsel on your behalf suggested that you were stressed and anxious about your immigration status and conflated all authority into that including the police. Even in accepting that you took the chain saw from the car you could not or would not explain to the Social Worker why you removed the chain or revved the engine.

In addition to the comments which you made against the police at the time, there was some evidence that you said something about getting cameras present or wanting the media to be involved. 

Counsel highlighted the deletions made to the charge and in particular reference to you having deliberately driven at the police vehicle and emphasizing that your behaviour in that context should be seen as spontaneous rather than pre-planned and in imposing sentence I acknowledge that.

I accept that you are still a young man with no past criminal history. I accept that your family are available to you and supportive of you but not your behaviour.

In imposing sentence upon you I have to have regard of a number of well-established principles. It is obvious that your behaviour was seriously alarming and impacted both on officers carrying out their professional duties but on many members of the public in the middle of the day on a public road. The public would rightly be shocked and appalled by what they had seen and many of them reacted and sought to offer or obtain assistance for the police officers who were in such danger. In sentencing I have to reflect the obvious horror at this behaviour.

The public require protection from behaviour of this sort and the sentence that the court imposes has to make it obvious to you and to others the utter unacceptability of this sort of behaviour and the consequences which will follow upon it. Your actions were so gross and so violent that the punishment must be significant.

It is clear that at whatever point the thought entered your mind you were intent upon causing catastrophic harm. There was no need for you to return to your vehicle at all and, having done so, there was no need for you to remove the chainsaw and, that you did, manifested a determination in your actions. 

Your behaviour caused significant harm, but the potential was even worse. In the end the officer was not seriously injured but the impact upon him and his colleagues must have been enormous where PC Cowan was convinced that you were going to kill him and chop off his limbs.  

Other officers coming to his assistance were also faced with that situation, as were members of the public confronted by your outrageous behaviour. If PC Cowan had not been able to run fast enough, or had stumbled and fallen as he ran from you, the scene could have been one of carnage

In imposing sentence, the court recognises and acknowledges that police officers have a wide range of duties and responsibilities and, in this case, having carried out more routine, but nevertheless important tasks, they were confronted with an act of horrific violence. The court must have regard to the public service provided by officers who daily put themselves in positions of danger even if they have no warning that such a situation is to arise. 

I am satisfied that for all the reasons I have sought to explain I must impose upon you a very significant penalty and accordingly I impose upon you a sentence of 10 years imprisonment to date from 7 May 2024 when you were remanded in custody in respect of this matter.”

20 January 2026