Perth police car ‘bloodbath’ man admits carrying knife.

COURT: Accused suffered throat injury after arrest outside Perth Railway Station

A man who was critically wounded during a bloodbath in a police van which has sparked an independent inquiry has admitted having a knife before the incident.

Stuart Lymer, 45, was searched by officers but then had his neck slashed after being put in the police vehicle with another person who had not been searched.

Lymer and a teenage girl were travelling together on a train from England when they were arrested by police officers outside Perth Railway Station.

He had a knife taken from him and they were then placed in the rear of the police vehicle where Lymer was slashed across the throat and the girl was also injured.

The circumstances of the incident – which led to officers being suspended from frontline duty – are being probed by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).

Lymer appeared in the dock at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted having a knife at Perth Railway Station on March 5 last year.

When Lymer first appeared in court last year his throat appeared to have been heavily stitched.

The girl, who had been reported as a missing person, has not appeared in court in connection with any alleged offence.

Depute fiscal Matthew Kerr said: “The accused was searched prior to entering a police vehicle and from within a bag in his possession a craft knife was recovered.”

Lymer said: “I accept I had it on me.” Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney deferred sentence on Lymer, who was accompanied to court by his wife, for the preparation of social work reports.

Librarian Lymer, from Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, was described as a first offender in court, but since the incident in March last year he has been jailed for four months in England.

He admitted taking a child away from their guardian or responsible person between March 2 and March 5 last year.

At Cannock Magistrates Court, he also pled guilty to two counts of knowingly and without lawful authority keeping a child away from a responsible person. He was also given a five-year restraining order.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said the case against the teenage girl was still “under consideration”, while Police Scotland confirmed the incident had been referred to PIRC but declined to comment further.

“The accused was searched prior to entering a police vehicle and from within a bag in his possession a craft knife was recovered.

MATTHEW KERR DEPUTE FISCAL