Man in court after police station shooting threat

A man threatened to walk into a police station with a shotgun and shoot someone in the head, a court has heard.

Wigan magistrates heard that Robert Garry, of Atherton Road, Hindley Green, was trying to get his house keys back from the police after being arrested for burglary but became increasingly aggressive with the call handler.

The 23-year-old told the operator during a call while he was outside Leigh police station on September 9 that he was going to come in with a shotgun and said: “If I don’t get my keys back today I am going to get a shotgun and shoot someone in the head.”

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He admitted twice breaching a restraining order and one count of persistently making use of a public electronic communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.

The court heard that Garry twice went to his mother’s house in August and banged on her door to be let in, breaching a restraining order banning him from contacting her.

Tess Kenyon, prosecuting, said: “His mother said he was scaring her other children. She said they had been helping him and giving him food but it looked like he had started using drugs again and she had no other choice but to report him.

“The third charge relates to an incident at a police station where he had gone to retrieve his keys after being arrested. He telephoned the operator from outside the station and the conversation goes on for about 20 minutes during which time he says ‘I will walk into the police station with a shotgun’.

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“It goes on like this for 17 pages and ends with him saying he will ‘shoot someone in the head’.”

The court heard that Garry had breached the restraining order 13 or 14 times in the past.

Garry, who chose to defend himself, said: “I was put in the back of a police van and my keys taken off me and put on the side with my other possessions but then they led me into a different van.

“They took me to the police station for five burglaries but they didn’t charge me with one. They told me to go to the police station to get my keys back but I kept going and they were closed.

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“My life is a lot easier in jail, I’m not scared of anyone. I can fight and look after myself. I am not bothered about what you do today. I don’t take drugs and I don’t drink.”
When asked whether he had been taking spice (a synthetic drug similar to cannabis) and if that might have affected his behaviour, he said: “Spice is different, it affects different people.”

Garry was remanded in custody to appear at Bolton Crown Court for sentence on October 10.

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