The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Jail for man who threatened life of police officers
Ryan Duke threw items from scaffold during 20-hour armed siege
A man who sparked a 20-hour armed police siege by barricading himself in his flat with a meat cleaver and a machete has been jailed.
Ryan Duke threatened to kill police, stuck the weapons through his door and splashed police with white spirit, which he poured through the letterbox of his Ann Street home.
The 28-year-old also climbed on to scaffolding and threw items, which hit the officers and endangered their life.
A large emergency response including armed units, fire brigade officers and ambulances was deployed at around 3am on October 28 and the area was placed in lockdown.
Police negotiators and a relative of Duke’s tried to reason with him but eventually the emergency services battered down his door to gain entry.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Duke has schizophrenia and was suffering from paranoia at the time of the incident.
Duke, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing, repeatedly threatening to harm himself, challenging police to fight and threatening to kill and injure them.
Sheriff Carmichael sentenced Duke to 12 months in prison, backdated to October 28.
He said: “I’ve got a governor’s report here which isn’t terribly positive and a social work report that isn’t positive either.
“I do not think there is any alternative but a custodial sentence.”