A cocaine-fuelled driver who ended a 45-minute police chase by ploughing his lorry into a Fife garden needs help, not jail, according to its owner.
Last May, Stuart Nowrie was chased in a flatbed pickup truck by police from Blairhall to Cardenden.
Officers had switched on blue lights and sirens but the 37-year-old swerved away and took police on a 35-mile pursuit through three separate council areas.
After being chased at high speeds through residential zones and country roads, Nowrie eventually turned onto a grassy field at a playpark in Cardenden.
Attempting to squeeze down a footpath between two homes, he misjudged the turn and wiped out roofer Colin Paterson’s garden.
At Stirling Sheriff Court, Nowrie admitted driving dangerously and while under the influence of cocaine.
Mr Paterson, 50, said Nowrie needs support more than punishment.
He also questioned why police were unable to get in front of the pickup, despite chasing for so long.
Given the pursuit took place largely heading east on narrow country roads, Mr Paterson asked why police from the force’s Glenrothes HQ were not able to set up a roadblock ahead of Nowrie, which ultimately would have avoided his garden’s destruction.
Still living with the effects
Sole trader Mr Paterson had been working in Kirkcaldy when Nowrie ploughed through his fence but says landscapers were working in the garden next door.
He has lived at the property for more than 14 years.
He said coming home to a wrecked pickup swarming with police in his garden was a shock.
“I got a phone call from a neighbour across the road.
“If you’d been in the back garden, you would have been dead.
“It was a blow to come home to.
“He totalled my garden.
“The garden’s never been the same since, the remains are still lying there.
“There’s still bits of headlight and glass that I’m picking up.
“Bairns go up and down the path, dog walkers and everything.”
Mr Paterson had to pay £400 to fit a new fence and more money on locks to secure the ladders his firm, CAP Roofing, depends on.
There are still traces of oil from the crash in his garden and shards of shattered brake-light surround the path.
Although upset about the damage, Mr Paterson says it is crucial Nowrie gets help, preferably not while behind bars.
“I think the boy was going through a hard time.
“He shouldn’t have been driving.
“These things happen in life and unfortunately it was my back garden.
“He’s needing help, not the jail.
“The boy obviously went through a sticky patch somewhere. It didn’t help me any.”
Questions over police chase
How police let the chase get as far as it did remains Mr Paterson’s biggest concern.
He says officers from further east in Fife should have been on hand to close off one of the many narrow country roads Nowrie sped through.
“You could have stopped him at a thousand places.
“It’s a back road.
“We still can’t understand how they couldn’t stop him coming 35 miles and wrecking my garden.
“The police never came to see me.
“They weren’t interested.
“I never even had a police notification.”
Police response
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Officers have a number of options and tactics at their disposal in a pursuit situation and the primary objective is to bring any incident to a safe resolution.
“Any pursuit is carried out under oversight from the police control room and supervisors and would be halted where the risk to those involved or the wider public becomes disproportionate.
“This is a decision which can be taken by the officers involved or the control room.
“In relation to this incident, officers pursued the vehicle for around 45 minutes before it came to a halt.
“A man was arrested and has subsequently been convicted in relation to the incident.”
Admitted guilt
The court heard Nowrie, of Izatt Avenue in Dunfermline, was spotted on May 5 2021, driving a flatbed Ford truck at a junction on the A907 near Blairhall.
Officers switched on their sirens but he drove around their vehicle and then overtook a HGV before speeding off.
Police alerted the area control room as Nowrie sped through Kennet and Clackmannan, reaching speeds of 50mph in 30mph zones.
He travelled up the B908 towards Gartlove and onto the A977, braking harshly before travelling along an unclassified road so narrow passing motorists must slow significantly.
Nowrie mounted a grass verge to squeeze past a slow-moving oncoming vehicle before heading in the direction of Saline.
Through the hamlet, he reached 70mph, more than double the limit.
Heading towards Cleish, his speed rose again to 75mph.
Taking more country roads, he eventually arrived in Cardenden.
At speed, he mounted the grassy field beside the children’s playpark on Craigside Road and sped downhill in the direction of a footpath between Mr Paterson’s home and a neighbouring property.
He lost control and crashed.
He was taken to Dunfermline Police Station where a drug test showed his blood contained, per litre, 247 microgrammes of benzoylecgonine, a cocaine derivative.
Nowrie was disqualified and released on bail.
Sheriff Derek Hamilton ordered reports ahead of a sentencing hearing on November 9.
