Man, 23, caused £1,000 damage on site

Specialist negotiators had to be brought in from Dundee to coax down a man who went on a drunken rampage on an Aberdeenshire building site.

Andrew McConnell broke in while work was under way at Inverurie Academy and caused extensive damage before he could be apprehended.

His “erratic” behaviour sparked a massive emergency response, with more than 30 police officers and firefighters descending upon the site.

Fiscal depute Alan Townsend told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the 23-yearold had been “standing on a mobile operating platform” when officers arrived but McConnell had only “laughed and

“Negotiators had been called from Dundee to talk him down”

continued to operate it” when they tried to coax him down.

He said: “There was concern for his wellbeing as a fall most likely would have resulted in serious injury or death.”

He added that specialist negotiators had been called from Dundee to talk him down.

It was subsequently discovered that McConnell, Craigendmuir Road, Glasgow, had caused £1,000 worth of damage after pulling out pipework for a sprinkler system and using a pipe to strike metal beams.

Solicitor Tony Burgess said his client – who was in the region for work – had ended up on the building site after consuming “too much alcohol” and “panicked” when he saw police.

McConnell admitted wilfully damaging property at Inverurie Academy on November 26 last year.

Sheriff Graham Buchanan ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.