Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Man sparked major police incident after threatening to hold Dundee church volunteers hostage

Police outside Meadowside St Paul's Church.
Police outside Meadowside St Paul's Church.

A man has been jailed after threatening to burn down a city church and hold two elderly volunteers hostage.

John Falconer, 43, admitted threatening the two terrified helpers, who were aged 78 and 74, at Meadowside St Paul’s Church on
May 22.

Falconer pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, causing fear or alarm, acting in an aggressive manner, shouting, and making threats to damage property.

The charge originally included an allegation that he possessed knives during the incident and presented these to Ms Chisholm but this was deleted.

His not guilty plea to a second charge of breach of the peace was accepted.
Sheriff John Rafferty sentenced Falconer, of Deveron Crescent, to 135 days in prison, down from 150 days due to his guilty plea.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Falconer had entered the church, which was handing out free food and drink to those in need.

He asked one of the volunteers known to him for many years for money but this was refused, causing Falconer to fly into a rage.

Depute fiscal Isobel Vincent told the court: “The accused became irate and began pacing, shouting ‘you’re making me beg, just give me the money’.

“Another witness, Margaret Chisholm, overheard the argument and joined her colleague, at which point the accused shouted ‘I will torch this place, I will torch your car’.

He then shouted he was not leaving.

“When both witnesses went to leave, the accused shouted ‘I could hold you hostage, I ken there’s knives here’.

The accused left and the police were called, who later traced him.”

A defence agent acting on Falconer’s behalf said he had been attending the church’s drop-in event for over 18 years.

She said: “It’s clear from the witness’s statements that they have known him for a long, long time and are fond of him.

“He stated that he had asked them for money and accepts that it was born out of frustration.”

The incident sparked a huge police presence in Dundee City Centre as officers hunted for the culprit.

Six police cars, officers and sniffer dogs were spotted in the area after Falconer ran off from the church.

It is believed he was not traced and arrested until several days later.