A thug who threw a knife at NHS staff he wanted to kill while on a crack cocaine-fuelled spree of terror may spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Mark Law, 44, stormed into the Alloway Centre mental health unit with a knife he had bought earlier that day with the intent to "attack and kill staff within". After firing himself up in the toilets by making stabbing motions in front of a mirror, he lashed out at terrified reception staff through a hatch with the weapon.
Law then hurled the blade at two workers, narrowly missing them and lodging it in a computer mousepad, before legging it from the Dundee facility. He was not traced immediately after the incident on March 25 2021, only being detained by police on June 3 after assaulting and threatening a woman on Monifieth High Street on May 25.
At the High Court in Edinburgh Lord Arthurson sentenced Law to an order for lifelong restriction with a minimum term of three years before he is eligible for parole, backdated to June 3 2021. However, the judge told Law, who has a significant history of drug use, that he will never be guaranteed release.
Lord Arthurson said: "You will be released only when the Parole Board determines that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that you should continue to be confined in prison. When you are released - if indeed you are ever released at all - is in law a matter for the Parole Board."
The court heard that Law had previously received psychiatric treatment at the Alloway Centre and had "borne a grievance" towards its staff prior to his violent actions that day. A psychiatric report concluded that he presented a risk of "serious harm" towards people working in health and care roles.
And during an interview ahead of sentencing, Law threatened to use violence if he was incarcerated permanently. He calmly told the author of a risk assessment report that he would "take life and take my own life", that an OLR "will bring death", and: "“If I get an OLR, I will dedicate my life to murder."
He later made a threat to kill his former community psychiatric nurse. The report concluded that he exhibits signs of paranoid personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
Lawyers acting for the 44-year-old said he was sorry for the fear and trauma he had caused his victims, and that he had vowed to stop using drugs. However, Lord Arthurson concluded that the risk he posed to the public left him with little option but to impose a lifelong sentence.
The judge said: "There is a likelihood that you, if at liberty, will seriously endanger the public at large. It is of particular note and concern that you have been assessed as presenting a high risk of perpetrating instrumental violence.
"In all of these circumstances, I am therefore today on this indictment making an order for lifelong restriction in respect of you. That order constitutes a sentence of imprisonment for an indeterminate period."
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