An ex soldier has been jailed for three and a half years over a petrol bomb attack on a police station, endangering the life of a police officer.
The defendant Jamie Taylor, 34, from Bo’ness confessed throwing three molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) at vans owned by police outside of the Livingston police station on May 30, 2025.
CCTV footage from cameras near the police station revealed a hooded individual, identified as Taylor, throwing petrol bombs.
The footage also showed the devices exploding on the ground, with one landing close to PC Kirsty Forsyth, who ran outside to reduce the effects of the fire using a fire extinguisher.
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Lady Ross, speaking at the High Court in Stirling, said Taylor’s actions were dangerous and “criminally stupid”.
Lady Ross told Taylor: “You had some ill-formed and ill-founded sense of grievance against the police.
“But ‘the police’ is not some faceless organisation, it’s made up of brave and responsible women and men, by PC Forsyth and PC Henderson who were running towards danger.”
The court heard that video evidence, previously shown at the High Court in Edinburgh in November, recorded PC Kirsty Forsyth leaving the police station with a fire extinguisher as a petrol bomb exploded close to her, prompting her to flee the scene.
Then Forsyth’s colleagues pursued Taylor, who was caught after a short while.
It was revealed that he was found lying on the ground beside a bush and smelled strongly of fuel.
In his defence, defence solicitor advocate Iain McSporran KC told the court that Taylor has serious mental health difficulties, partly linked to his former army service.
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Lady Ross ordered that Taylor be placed under 12 months of social work supervision following his release from prison.
Reacting to the judgment, a spokesman of Police Scotland, Insp Lindsey McIntyre, said Taylor had put the lives of officers and staff in the station at risk.
She said: “Thankfully, no one was injured, but the outcome of the incident could have been far worse.
“Every officer has the fundamental right to come home from each shift unharmed, and no one should be targeted in this way.”
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