Doctor, nurse assaulted by man who blamed hospital for girlfriend’s death
BY SALLY HIND and DAVID LOVE
A GRIEVING boyfriend has been jailed for a terrifying hammer attack he launched on NHS staff in revenge for his girlfriend’s death.
Duncan MacLaren, 29, who rampaged through New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital in Inverness in October last year, was distraught over Jade McGrath’s suicide.
The 19-year-old’s body was found a few hundred yards from the hospital, where she had been receiving treatment, in December 2018.
As MacLaren left the dock at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday to start a two-year sentence, he said: “She did not kill herself, by the way. She was a victim of medical negligence.”
MacLaren, of Nethy Bridge, Invernessshire, admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, damaging equipment and windows, and assaulting a doctor and a staff nurse.
The court heard he walked into the hospital on October 27 armed with a hammer. He smashed up the nurses’ office in Maree ward before threatening to kill staff members, leaving onlookers running for cover.
Three staff members were trapped in the office as an overturned chair was blocking the door.
MacLaren then smashed a window before one nurse set off the attack alarm, bringing other members of staff rushing to the scene.
On the ward, a staff nurse used a chair as a shield to try to approach MacLaren.
Prosecutor David Morton told the court: “The accused then threw the hammer at him, striking him on his left side, and he was punched in the face.”
MacLaren retreated back into the office, where he continued to shout and swear, claiming that staff had killed his girlfriend.
The court heard a number of patients needed treatment after the incident to calm them down.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson jailed MacLaren for 18 months over the New Craigs attack and another six months for assaulting an Aviemore taxi driver in July last year.
Defence lawyer Neil Wilson told the court his client “still harbours a grudge against the institution” but not the individuals concerned and wished to apologise “unreservedly”.
In March last year, Jade’s mum revealed she had forgiven the bullies who tormented her teenage daughter, who was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, before her death.
Samantha Taylor asked the bullies to spend the rest of their lives being kind to others to honour Jade’s memory.