Bogus cop tied up two men in city flat robbery
ABOGUS cop who smashed his way into a flat before tying up two men and robbing them was jailed yesterday for 30 months. Ross McBride, 30, and an accomplice burst into a flat in Woodlands last November and shouted at the terrified occupants: “Police, don’t f***ing move.”
Alistair MacKenzie, 50, and Thomas McVey, 42, were forced to the ground and had insulation tape wrapped around their eyes and hands.
McBride and the other man were armed with a crowbar and a metal pole and wearing balaclavas, then searched the flat.
Mr MacKenzie and Mr McVey were repeatedly quizzed about drugs and told not to “resist arrest” during the ordeal.
McBride pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to assaulting and robbing the pair while pretending to be a police officer.
The court heard Mr MacKenzie and Mr McVey were wakened by a loud bang as their door was forced in.
They were tied up while the robbers searched the living room shouting “Where’s the money, where’s the drugs?”
Prosecutor Mark Allan told the court the two men were “unaware” of any drugs or money in the flat.
He added: “They were told ‘keep your nose to the floor, are you trying to resist arrest, where’s the f***ing money, where’s the brown?’
“Mr Mackenzie told them: ‘I don’t have any money, I don’t have any brown.’”
Worried neighbours, who heard the shouting coming from the flat, dialled 999.
Police arrived at the flat and McBride tried to convince them he was “just having a chat” with the two occupants of the flat, but he was arrested.
Mobiles phones, £173 in cash and bank cards were stolen.
Lawyer, Pat Campbell, defending, told the court McBride believed the victims may have been involved in the supply of drugs.
He added: “Mr McBride was approached by a man that day with a proposition.
“He left his home not knowing where he was going but knew what he was doing.
“The victims will have been caused considerable fear or alarm on this occasion.
Sheriff Alan Mackenzie told McBride, of Anniesland, that he was sentencing him based on his criminal record.