Threats man avoids jail

An ex-serviceman who threatened to shoot First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and bomb an Angus SNP o ff i c e has avoided going behind bars.

Andrew Cant made the threats in a near hour-long “rant” to a police call handler in November 2019.

The 45-year-old former Royal Navy man said he would “take an axe” to the premises and “destroy it, hopefully with people within”.

In another incident just months later, Cant verbally abused an ambulance call handler, threatened to smash a police vehicle with a road sign and threw a traffic cone at another unit after he was found walking in Arbroath in the early hours.

He was previously banned from going within 50 yards of the Arbroath SNP office and has now been put on a community order.

The offences happened during a breakdown in Cant’s mental health.

Psychiatric reports before Forfar Sheriff Court identified bipolar and personality disorders in the accused.

Cant had called 101 just after 6am to ask if they would contact psychiatric services on his behalf.

He became increasingly agitated, telling the handler: “There is an SNP office about five minutes

walk from my house. I want to bomb that place, I want to take an axe to it and destroy it, hopefully with people within it.

“And do you know why? They are traitors. They are guilty of treason.”

A sheriff told Cant the way his difficulties manifested themselves was “a serious matter”.

Defence solicitor Nick Ma r ko w s k i said: “The psychiatric reports have identified a low tolerance to frustration and a low

threshold for discharge of aggression.

“In the first offence, he made the phone call and police went to his address.

“By the time he had been taken from Arbroath to Dundee he was calm.

“If you look at his record the court has been fairly sympathetic to him. It doesn’t look like he is able to manage himself all the time.”

Cant, of Academy Street, Arbroath, previously pleaded guilty to the bomb

threat and threatening Ms Sturgeon with violence on November 3 last year.

He also admitted breaching the peace on Dundee Road, Arbroath, near the town’s Asda, on January 7.

Sheriff Derek Reekie said: “As long as Mr Cant complies with his regular reviews and his medication he would not seem to present a problem.”

Cant told the sheriff a period of remand in relation to the offences had

been a “short, sharp shock”.

The sheriff added: “I am giving Mr Cant the benefit of the doubt that led to the sort of effects that can arise from his condition, particularly the low threshold for aggression.”

A 12-month community payback order with supervision was imposed in relation to the threats made around the SNP office and Ms Sturgeon.

Sentence on the other matter was deferred for four months.

RANT: Andrew Cant was previously banned from going within 50 yards of the SNP office in Arbroath.