Cowie stand-off man on supervision

Nov 4 2011 by Stephen Robertson, Stirling Observer Friday

A MAN who sparked a four-hour stand-off with armed police in Cowie now faces 18 months supervision for his actions.

Specialist officers, including trained police negotiators, were called to the scene in Scotstoun Road after Derek Cramb (50) made a chilling phonecall to police. In the late-night call, Cramb told them that he had a shotgun and a Luger.

Police who arrived on June 3 this year then found that he had barricaded himself in.

On his previous appearance at Stirling Sheriff Court in September, fiscal depute Lindsey Brooks told the court: “Part of Cowie was effectively closed for four hours as extensive efforts were made by police to contact the accused, and trained police negotiators were used with little success.

Directed

“Members of the public that lived near had to be directed away and there was some substantial inconvenience.”

Mrs Brooks added: “There were four hours of stand-off between the accused and police before specialist officers forced entry to the house.

“There was some difficulty with this as the accused had barricaded himself in.”

After gaining entry to the house, police found that Cramb had been bluffing all along and had no guns there at all.

After being detained at around 3.10am on June 4 he remained abusive, however.

On his way to the police station, he told officers “I f****** hate the police” and then threatened “I’ll stab yous all”.

Cramb, of Scotstoun Road, Cowie, later pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.

His agent Virgil Crawford confirmed that no firearms were found after police gained access to Cramb’s home.

The solicitor said: “There was no gun. Police came down, checks were made and nothing was found.

“He made these totally unfounded comments that resulted in this stand-off.”

Sheriff William Gilchrist previously deferred the case for reports and Cramb was back in court on Wednesday of this week for sentencing.

The sheriff said that a report prepared indicated that alcohol was the main problem.

Alcohol

While Mr Crawford said that it was accepted that alcohol had played its part in the offence, he added that Cramb himself did not believe that he had an alcohol problem.

Mr Crawford continued: “He says that he drinks as much as the next man.”

Sentencing, Sheriff Gilchrist said: “Whatever the long-term effect of your drinking is, it is conceded by everyone that it was drinking that led to the commission of this offence.

“As far as the court is concerned, that is a problem that needs to be addressed.”

Sheriff Gilchrist then imposed a community payback order with a supervision requirement of 18 months.