Siege court appearance

Following the siege in Partick on Friday 10 September, 22-year-old John McDermott appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on a variety of charges including assaulting police officers by throwing grenades at them, assaulting his wife Jillian, two counts of breach of the peace – one for holding a knife to his own throat and the other for throwing things from his second- floor window in Partick.

He was also charged under the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act for allegedly doing these things while supposedly looking after a child. No plea or declaration was given and the man has been remanded in custody pending a bail plea to be heard later this week.

An entire section of Dumbarton Road was cordoned off for more than eight hours when a siege scenario developed with armed police, bomb disposal and emergency services in attendance. Residents were confined to their homes and businesses were unable to open.

Siege over

At 4.05pm on Friday 10 September 2010, a 22 year old man was arrested following an incident, reported Strathclyde Police. He was led out of the building on Dumbarton Road, quietly.
A part of Dumbarton Road was evacuated around 7.30am and sealed off by armed police with a bomb disposal squad and all the emergency services standing by in the course of the day while an apparent siege was underway. See report on this page.

Police evacuate residents in siege street

As this edition of the LOCAL NEWS GLASGOW’s enews letter was being prepared, a major siege incident was taking place in Dumbarton Road near Crow Road.
Armed police, a bomb disposal squad and all emergency services were in wait and negotiations were underway with a man, thought to have a gun or with other weapons who had locked himself into his flat in Dumbarton Road.
‘It is scary,’ said LOCAL NEWS journalist Lynsay Keough who was on the spot along with photographer Stuart Maxwell.

‘People don’t know if a man will come out meekly or if there is likely to be some kind of explosion. He appears to have thrown objects out of the window. One of them has landed on the roof of the bus stop below the flat and that may – or may not – be a handgun. Two other objects are in the road way but whether these are grenades, flares or anything else, we don’t know.’

About 30 – 40 residents were evacuated around 7.30am and taken to the nearby Baptist Church. But most quickly went to homes of family and friends. No business were allowed to open in that part of the street and the Merklands Nursery in Crow Road was closed.
It is understood the incident started as a ‘domestic’ between the man and his wife who does not appear to be still in the house.
Watch our website for updates: www.localnewsglasgow.co.uk