A mentally-ill man who called police threatening to blow up bank and telecommunications workers has been jailed for 18 months.
Patrick McCabe bought chemicals and bomb-making instructions before issuing his threats, sparking a mass evacuation and forcing bomb squads to carry out controlled explosions at his flat in Fairbairn Street on December 5 last year.
Psychiatric reports confirmed he was suffering from psychosis, although it was not deemed severe enough for a hospital treatment order, Dundee Sheriff Court court heard.
However, the psychiatrist said he still presented a risk to the public and McCabe’s solicitor John Boyle said he had “grave concerns” about his ability to engage with doctors if released into the community.
Mr Boyle said he believed a custodial sentence was the only option for his client to get the treatment he required.
The court was previously told McCabe phoned police control centre around 11pm and said he was ex-SAS and had “purchased electrical components, a digital soldering iron and a book on improvised explosives, ammunition and guns”.
He said he was in a dispute with a bank and a telecommunications company and that police had not taken his complaints seriously. As a result, he planned to find out where staff parked their cars before planting bombs beneath their vehicles.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson said: “The accused stated on the phone he had started making bombs and was ‘going to shoot some ********’. He claimed he was ex-22nd Special Air Service.
“When police attended he stated he had purchased a book on how to make bombs and bought equipment to make explosives. Residents were evacuated and a cordon put in place. Chemical mixtures were found in his freezer and controlled explosions took place.”
McCabe, 65, a prisoner at Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of threatening and abusive behaviour.
Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “You have been diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness. I am therefore concerned about you as a man who is ill and that illness has contributed very significantly to the committing of this offence.”
He also imposed a nine-month supervised release order to allow his treatment to continue following his release.
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