Community work for man who left petrol bomb outside flat

A man who left a petrol bomb outside a Hamilton flat after a row over an alleged brothel has been spared jail.

David Pirie was instead ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work when he appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court this week.

Pirie (27) of Crossview Avenue, Baillieston, admitted breaking a window and leaving what the Crown described as a“fully assembled petrol bomb”containing fuel, nails and fragments of concrete outside the flat in Quarry Street, in August 2015.

He also admitted failing to turn up for the case at Hamilton Sheriff Court in June last year. The court heard he went on holiday to Spain, got a job there and was eventually arrested at an airport in June this year as he tried to make his way home.

Pirie was spotted running away from the Quarry Street flat without having ignited the bomb.

Vish Kathuria, prosecuting, said Pirie’s then girlfriend, Louise Stewart, lived next door to Alexander Mccluckie and they got on well until March 2015 when a “malicious” call regarding Mccluckie’s dogs was made to the SSPCA.

The fiscal told the court: “the relationship continued to sour and in August that year police received intelligence that Stewart and another female had been operating a brothel within the flat.

“Police officers detained Stewart on August 12 but she was released just before midnight. At 5.30 the following morning Pirie and his partner went to confront Mccluckie about the information they thought he had passed to the police.

“He was asleep and was wakened by two loud bangs. He saw a figure outside his living room window. The accused was seen to pick up a brick and throw it at the window, causing damage. He then ran off towards his partner’s distinctive yellow Vauxhall Astra car.

“Mccluckie then saw a glass bottle containing fluid and nails, with a rag protruding from the neck and a lighter lying next to it on the ground. He smelled fuel from the bottle and contacted the police.”

Officers interviewed Stewart, who was asked what she knew about the petrol bomb. She replied:“i didn’t know he had done it. He talked about it, but that was a bit far.”

Police analysed the bottle’s contents and confirmed the fluid was petrol. As well as nails, there were fragments of concrete inside.

Pirie made an initial court appearance in November 2016 and was granted bail, but an arrest warrant was issued when he failed to attend a pre-trial hearing the following June.

HIS lawyer said he’d stayed on in Spain to work after a holiday and “stupidly failed to return to face the music”.

The agent added:“he was held in custody after his arrest in June this year. He has no previous convictions and did not enjoy being in prison. He has learned his lesson.”

Sheriff Shiona Waldron said she took into account that Pirie had been in jail for a number of weeks. She told him: “This was an extremely foolish incident, made worse by your failure to appear in court. It was a very amateurish, silly petrol bomb which, fortunately, didn’t harm anyone.”