Laird shamed over threatening letters
£800 fine after tenants terrified by abuse campaign
A LAIRD involved in a bitter row with residents on his estate wrote anonymous letters claiming he was a former MI5 agent and licensed to carry guns.
‘Worzel-like’ Niall Campbell, 67, has now been fined over the notes – one of which warned he was ‘old-school and ruthless’.
He was found guilty of sending abusive and threatening letters at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court yesterday.
They were sent after Campbell – who kept a rifle, shotgun and ammunition – fell out with residents of Rowallan Castle estate in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, over boundary issues, access rights and dog fouling.
One threat scared a couple into installing CCTV and they considered moving away.
Thomas and Elizabeth Machin received a part-typed, part-handwritten note in July 2014.
It said Campbell had served with MI5 and had ‘licensed sidearms’, adding that while he appeared ‘Worzel-like’ – referring to the 1980s TV scarecrow – he was ‘highly intelligent’. The note went on that Mr Machin should ‘understand who you are involved with’. Mrs Machin, 70, who was recovering from cancer at the time, said: ‘I was very upset. I was frightened that [my husband] would get killed or something.’
Campbell gave himself away with his handwriting and by leaving his DNA on sticky tape sealing an envelope. He claimed he had been set up by someone after his office was broken into ten years earlier.
Police took the letter and its envelope before visiting Campbell, who did not want to voluntarily give a DNA sample. Another resident, Alistair Dickson – who had received a similar anonymous letter the previous year – was then visited.
Campbell was later detained and legally held firearms seized from his home in nearby Waterside. DNA and fingerprints were also then taken.
Giving evidence in his own defence, Campbell said his firm, Duffield Morgan, had sold land at Rowallan to Persimmon to build homes but disputes arose.
Keith Stewart, defending, described the case as ‘entirely circumstantial’.
But Sheriff Iona McDonald said: ‘The evidence from the witnesses leads me to conclude the letters were indeed threatening. You did indeed send these letters, so I find you guilty of the charge.’
Campbell was fined £800, to be paid by April 30.
Outside court, business consultant Mr Machin, 72, noted Campbell’s ‘deviant and devious behaviour’. He said: ‘The letter, with implied threat to shoot me, caused two-and-a-half years of worry, anguish and stress. The letter delayed [my wife’s] recovery, affecting her quality of life.’