AN INJURED Carlisle man whose welfare was being checked by a police constable told the officer he had a gun and would shoot her if she went into his home.
The alarming threat was made by 33-year-old Ross McMurdo on February 11 after the female officer was sent to an address in Colville Terrace, Denton Holme, because he contacted the ambulance service and said he planned to kill himself.
The defendant, formerly of Millholme Avenue, Carlisle, admitted using threatening behaviour.
Prosecutor George Shelley told Carlisle’s Rickergate court that McMurdo, who was not legally represented during his sentencing hearing, that the officer arrived at the Denton Holme property to be met by the defendant, who was covered in blood.
“He confronted the female officer,” said Mr Shelley.
“She backed off and he went inside the property and said that he had a gun and he’d shoot her if she went in. He told the officer: ‘I don’t mind shooting someone in the face’."
He added: "Why should I want you to live?”
The constable relayed the defendant's threat to her control room colleagues and requested immediate back-up.
When armed officers arrived at the property, McMurdo was compliant, and he was arrested but taken to The Cumberland Infirmary for treatment.
The court heard that he has 23 offences on his record, seven of those crimes being public order violations.
From the dock of the court, McMurdo said he had been seeking help for his mental health. He said he had tried to kill himself “a few times” and he blamed a reduction in his medication.
“I put a vase over my head,” he told magistrates, suggesting that people lied to him constantly.
The defendant listed a series of psychiatric conditions which he said he has, including borderline personality disorder, depression and psychosis.
He said that he would turn to alcohol if he could not get the medication he needs.
A probation worker who was in court that there were “significant and serious” concerns for McMurdo’s mental health and there needed to be an assessment of a possible mental health treatment requirement.
The presiding magistrate told the defendant that such a sentence may well offer what he says he needs through targeted support and treatment. They adjourned the case until March 19 so that this potential resolution of the case can be investigated.
In the meantime, the defendant was granted bail.
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