Would-be Holyrood f ire-raiser facing jail

A MAN who sparked a major terror alert by attempting to set fire to the Scottish parliament building is facing jail.

Piotr Swiatek poured fuel over the windows at Holyrood and attempted to light the fluid before he was tackled by armed police officers as he waved two large kitchen knives.

Swiatek, who was drunk on tequila, had travelled from his home in Livingston, West Lothian. He later told police he had intended to set himself on fire. The capital’s busy Royal Mile had to be closed off amid fears of a terrorist incident.

Swiatek, 31, had denied the charges against him but was found guilty by a jury last month of attempting to set the building on fire on March 24 this year following a three-day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. He was also found guilty of knife possession and waving the blade above his head when approached by police officers.

He returned to court from custody for sentencing yesterday, where a sheriff agreed to defer again for a psychiatric report but warned the Pole he faced ‘a lengthy custodial sentence’.

Previously, the court heard the fire attack on the parliament took place just two days after the

‘That suggests to me a man with a purpose’

one-year anniversary of the London terror attack where five people were killed and 50 injured after a man drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Armed officers had subsequently been stationed at the Scottish parliament.

Swiatek took a bottle of barbecue accelerant from his backpack before spraying it over the windows of the £414million building. An armed officer spotted him taking a lighter from his pocket and rushed over to confront him.

At this point, Swiatek pulled a large kitchen knife from his jacket and waved it above his head. The officer wrestled Swiatek to the ground and disarmed him.

Defending solicitor Joe Boyd told the court his client’s actions were ‘incomprehensible’, but stress had been a factor.

Sheriff Gordon Liddle said: ‘He set off that morning with a rucksack that contained a bottle of accelerant and the means to ignite it. He also had two kitchen knives. That suggests to me a man with a purpose.’

He told Swiatek: ‘You are not going to escape a lengthy custodial sentence – the only question is how long.’