‘Victimisation’ and debts led to pair hatching plot

A businessman who felt victimised by police and a personal trainer with money worries. Together they conspired to set fire to a policeman’s car in the driveway of his Ballumbie home and now this unlikely duo face years behind bars as a result.

William Handy, 54, of Middlebank Holding, Errol, had become convinced he was being victimised by the police.

Incensed at being regularly stopped for traffic offences, he also believed PC David Farr and his colleague PC Ross Clark from Angus were “frightening” him in their unmarked silver Audi.

Handy had been put under surveillance after he was seen mixing with another man Police Scotland were watching as part of a programme called Operation Cartogram.

The businessman would regularly complain about his treatment to friends and associates, including Craig Guest of Nelson Street, a former soldier he

Errol businessman had become convinced he was being victimised by police

met in a gym and later employed as a personal trainer.

Handy uncovered the home addresses of the two policemen and, in May and June 2014, the pair conspired via text message, phone calls and in person to set fire to a car in the driveway of PC Farr’s Ballumbie home.

During the early hours of June 23, at the behest of Handy, Guest poured petrol over the vehicle and set the car on fire.

PC Farr and his wife were woken by the vehicle’s alarm going off.

Detectives investigating the attack recovered Guest’s DNA from the wreckage and he was arrested the following month.

Although he initially denied any knowledge of the incident, he admitted to police in a second interview he had set fire to the vehicle because of money troubles.

He said he was deeply in debt and would use the money for the attack to help pay for his son’s nursery care.