Drunk who poured petrol on to Parliament and tried to start blaze faces prison

A DRUNK who sparked a terror alert by trying to set fire to the Scottish Parliament building two days after the anniversary of an attack on Westminster is facing a jail sentence.

Piotr Swiatek poured fuel over the windows of the building and tried to light the fluid before he was tackled by armed police officers.

Swiatek, 31, who had been drinking tequila that morning, travelled from his home in

Livingston to the Parliament. He was also carrying two large kitchen knives when he was confronted.

Following the incident, Swiatek told police he wanted them to kill him and his intention had been to pour the accelerant over his head and set himself on fire.

The capital’s Royal Mile next to the building had to be closed off by armed officers due to the suspected terrorist nature of the fireraising.

Swiatek denied the charges against him but was found guilty by a jury of attempting to set Parliament on fire on March 24 following a three-day trial last month at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

The court had heard the incident took place two days after the one-year anniversary of the London terror attack, where five people were killed and 50 injured after a man drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

Swiatek had been drinking heavily in the days leading up to him travelling to Edinburgh and he was captured on CCTV making his way from Waverley train station to the bottom of the city’s High Street.

Once outside the £414 million building the Polish national was seen to take a bottle of barbecue accelerant from his backpack before spraying it over the windows. He was then seen to take a lighter from his pocket before an armed officer spotted him and rushed over to confront him.

Swaitek saw the officer heading his way and pulled a large kitchen knife from his jacket and waved it above his head. But the policeman wrestled Swiatek to the ground and disarmed him of the two large blades.

Royal Mile was then completely closed off because the officer believed Swiatek’s actions could have been terror-related.

Defending solicitor Joe Boyd said Swiatek had offered no real explanation as to why he had carried out the arson attack.

Sheriff Gordon Liddle said: “He set off that morning with a rucksack that contained a bottle of accelerant and the means to ignite it. He also had two kitchen knives. That suggests to me a man with a purpose. We next see him on video walking down, with a jaunty gait, the High Street.

“[An] officer said he saw flames and when he came out to challenge him your client immediately pulled a large kitchen knife from inside his jacket and held it above his head.

“The officer was particularly brave and took him to the ground.”

Sheriff Liddle, who deferred sentence to next month for the preparation of a psychiatric report, told Swaitek: “You are not going to escape a lengthy custodial sentence – the only question is how long.”