A Dundee thug who gained notoriety following a series of criminal aerial escapades has been jailed again after scaling a ledge before chucking a door at Taser-wielding police.
Police arrived at a car repair garage on South Road, Dundee, on August 3 this year following reports of a break-in to find Connor McLeod hiding inside.
During a stand-off with a police dog unit and armed officers wielding a taser, McLeod shoved a door towards officers before he downed a “gargantuan” quantity of pills.
Officers estimate he downed between 200-300 etizolam – also known as “street valium” – tablets while perched on a ledge before giving himself up to them.
McLeod earned the nickname “Spiderned” when he climbed down the outside of a 14-storey tower block to evade police in 2011.
Fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie told Dundee Sheriff Court police forced entry to the building around 6.20am on August 3 this year.
She said: “An initial search did not reveal any persons within however, on entering the workshop area, the accused and another were seen on the ledge.
“The accused was hiding behind a ladder and was instructed to come down immediately.
“The accused was very aggressive, swearing, shouting, threatening police to fight and threatening to throw objects at officers in attendance.
“An officer drew his Taser and activated the red dots on the accused due to his aggressive nature and threats towards officers.
“An officer began engaging with the accused to get him down safely but he refused to come down from the ledge and then pushed an old door from over the edge of the ledge.
“He continued to shout and act aggressively towards police and used pieces of wood to shield himself from the red dots of the Taser.
“He began to take tablets from his pockets and chewing on them.
“Officers estimated he took 200 to 300 tablets during this period.
“He then stated he would come down if the police dog left the workshop, and this was facilitated and he came down.”
McLeod was first taken to hospital where medics refused to treat him due to his behaviour before being taken to Dundee’s Bell Street police HQ.
Miss Gillespie added: “He made threats that he would find out the location of officers’ children’s schools, find out where they lived and further made threats to blow up their homes.”
McLeod, 23, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of theft, breaching bail, behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, vandalism, police assault and drugs offences.
Solicitor advocate Jim Laverty, defending, told the court McLeod was “incredibly embarrassed” at his behaviour which was due to him consuming a “gargantuan” quantity of Etizolam tablets.
He said: “He was not a prime mover in this incident, he effectively chummed along with others but he accepts full responsibility for his behaviour.
“He was hopelessly addicted to Etizolam at the time.
Mr Laverty added that his client “bears the scars of previous experience with the [police] dog unit” and said he suspected the dog had not been fed that morning.
He added: “He was scared to come down from the ledge while the dog was there.
“He did not know if any of the officers had any children or where they lived. But he accepts it was an outrageous thing to say
“He accepts the police were only doing their job.
“He has finally admitted to himself that he has been operating under a difficulty with etizolam and street valium for some time.”
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael told McLeod he knew himself he was going to jail and said the officers should not be subjected to that “entirely unacceptable” behaviour while at work.
He jailed McLeod for 22 months.
McLeod earned the name Spiderned in 2011 after bizarrely scaling down Dalfield Court – a 14-storey tower block near Dundee city centre – as police quizzed his mum in the block as to his whereabouts.
He was then involved in another stand-off with cops when they finally found him on the fourth-floor ledge of another building.
The court was told that in that offence police turned up to check he was sticking to a bail curfew.
He later earned a further jail term after scaling the roof of a house and launching roof tiles at cops.
