Hogmanay gatecrasher jailed

A MAN was jailed last week after he gatecrashed an Oban Hogmanay party where a former girlfriend was celebrating and threatened her with a knife and a bottle.

Paul Donaldson MacMillan, 27, of Smerclait, Pulpit Drive, Pulpit Hill, Oban, admitted forcibly entering a flat in Oban where his ex-partner was amongst those present; refusing to leave when repeatedly requested, being verbally abusive to her, taking a bottle and kitchen knife and brandishing them at her.

Procurator Fiscal Eoin McGinty said the couple had only gone out for six weeks and this had ended a month before.

Oban Sheriff Court heard that early on January 1 MacMillan arrived at the address by taxi and after being told he wasn’t welcome he hung around outside before ‘ barging’ in.

The fiscal said: ‘He took a seat in the living room; all present asked him to leave but he refused to do so and became abusive to everyone there. This went on for three to four hours.’

When the woman eventually went to call the police, MacMillan said he would leave if she hung up but then grabbed the phone out of her hand went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife and a half-full bottle of Buckfast.

‘He turned to face the complainer, waved these above his head, brandishing them in her direction,’ said the fiscal.

The girl fled the flat with a friend, having to get out of a window.

When arrested, police had to delay his interview at the police station because MacMillan was ‘in an agitated and aggressive state’.

MacMillan’s defence agent, Jane Thompson said that MacMillan’s on-going alcohol problems were behind the incident and he could be assessed for a place in a rehabilitation unit

However, in view of his recent record of offending, Sheriff Ruth Anderson QC sentenced him to six months in prison.