The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Bomb threat in troubled past
Connor Ward was 20 when he was first locked up after sparking a bomb scare in Banff in 2012.
Residents in the Low Shore area were evacuated after he threatened to kill himself and his dad with a bomb.
He was living in a rubbish-strewn house in Water Lane and held a grudge against his dad, Alexander, who fathered a child with Ward’s young ex-girlfriend.
The plot was uncovered when his mum found a copy of the Do-It-Yourself Gunpowder Cookbook among bottles of chemicals at his flat.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, he was caged for three years but allowed out early on supervised release.
But within months of his release, he was back in the dock.
At Peterhead Sheriff Court in 2015, he admitted to amassing a collection of knuckle-dusters and a stun-gun between November 19, 2013, and November 21, 2014.
Police were tipped off about his cache by the National Crime Agency after a package addressed to his mother’s house was intercepted from the US.
When officers searched his home and his mother’s, they found a booklet on the Nazis and swastika flags among the arsenal.
Sheriff Andrew Miller said Ward’s actions were of a “significant concern” and jailed him for 22 months.
He was also ordered to serve the outstanding year on his supervised release behind bars.
In total, police pulled 58 knuckle-dusters and knuckle-duster type weapons from his possession.
His solicitor, Sheena Mair, had claimed Ward initially attempted to contact Amnesty International to dispose of the stun-gun, but later forgot he owned it.
She added detention would not offer him the best chance of a life beyond a cell.
“Mr Ward’s circumstances are very complex,” she said at the time.
“He required in-depth support and I would submit that can be provided by way of a community disposal.
“I don’t think there’s anything for providing structural activity in prison – resources and specialist workers are not as freely available in custody as they are in the community.”