A man who was convicted of setting fire to a car while it was parked outside the home of a Dundee police officer is appealing his conviction.
William Handy was found guilty after trial of setting the blaze outside a house in the Ballumbie area of the city in the summer of 2014.
The 54-year-old, of Middlebank Holding in Errol, committed the act outside the home of PC David Farr after believing he had been the subject of “unfair” harassment by police in the previous weeks.
His co-accused, Craig Guest, 32, of Nelson Street, Dundee, admitted the same offence during a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Handy was sentenced to five years in jail for an offence that Lord Woolman said had been calculated to violate the officer’s home and private life. But now Handy is disputing that he was guilty of being involved in the fire in the first place.
His lawyer, George Donnelly, today told the Tele that a notice of intention to appeal the conviction had been lodged with the court.
He is now awaiting a judge’s report, which sets out the evidence led in the trial and his directions to the jury.
The report is designed to assist the appeal court in making its determination.
Guest was jailed for six years for the offence after the court heard that he had previous convictions, including serious assault.
In a letter he stated that he was “completely ashamed” of himself and was in a “desperate place” when the fire was set.
Defence counsel Gary Allan QC said Guest had been in debt at the time and was under pressure to repay it. His client had carried out the crime as a way of paying off the debt.
However, Mark Stewart QC, acting for Handy, said when his client was sentenced that he “maintains his position of innocence”.
Handy had denied the offence throughout the trial in Aberdeen.
However, Guest had pleaded guilty to fire-raising midway through the trial.
The court later heard how PC Farr had been left fearing for the safety of his family after the offence, and it had affected his health.
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