Man who fantasised about killing woman is released from prison

First offender also claimed to have prepared bag of ‘hydrogen cyanide’

A man who claimed to a doctor he was having fantasies of killing a woman and having sex with her was yesterday given a community payback order.

Johnathon Hunter, 47, also claimed that he had prepared a substance he believed was hydrogen cyanide, when he was in Arbroath’s Abbey Health Centre last July.

Hunter has spent more than a year in prison but will be released after a judge at the High Court in Edinburgh gave him a sentence that is an alternative to imprisonment.

Lord Tyre told him: “Along with everyone else who has had to consider this case, I have found it a very difficult one.”

The judge told him it was clear he had done himself “no favours” by deliberately exaggerating the risk he posed.

Hunter previously admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner that was likely to cause fear or alarm at the centre and at another address in the town’s Sidney Street, on July 18 last year.

He told a GP at the centre he was experiencing thoughts of sexually assaulting a woman known to him.

He also stated he had sexual fantasies of killing a woman and having sex with her when she was deceased.

He said that, to help in his crimes, he had prepared a bag at his home address of what he believed was hydrogen cyanide.

Hunter originally pled guilty before a sheriff but was sent to the High Court because of its greater sentencing powers.

Several reports, including a full risk assessment, were prepared before he was sentenced yesterday.

Lord Tyre told Hunter under the community payback order imposed on him, he would be supervised by the authorities for three years.

“Along with everyone else who has had to consider this case, I have found it a very difficult one. LORD TYRE

Several extra requirements were also imposed, including a ban on installing any apps on electronic devices without permission and an order not to delete his internet search histories.

Defence counsel Tim Niven-Smith told the judge on the basis of all the information now available he was inviting the court to make a community payback order. The defence counsel said it would serve the needs of the accused and protect the public.

Mr Niven-Smith said first offender Hunter has now been in custody for more than a year “through his own actions”.

Hunter, who was in Perth Prison, followed proceedings through a video link to the court.

Lord Tyre told Hunter he hoped he had learned from “this very unhappy experience”.

Hunter said: “It has been a very scary situation for me. It will stay in there forever.”