A SEX offender who tried to burn down the office of an MSP has been jailed.
Peter Batten, 55, went to the Kirkcaldy constituency office of David Torrance on a Sunday morning, set alight a paint tray and tried to open the door.
The SNP MSP had been working there a short time before and returned to the office to see Batten walking away.
Batten then threatened the MSP who pressed a panic button.
In a previous incident, workers had barricaded themselves in a back office and called the police.
Batten’s gripe was that he wanted to be taken off the sex offenders register.
Speaking after the case, Torrance said the incident had been “terrifying”.
Batten, currently a prisoner at Perth, appeared for sentencing on Tuesday at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
He admitted that on March 14 last year at the constituency office of Torrance, Kirk Wynd, Kirkcaldy, he acted in an aggressive manner, shouted, swore and refused to leave the premises.
On April 14 at the same office, he attended there with a bucket of burning material and attempted to open the door, shouted, swore and made a threat of violence and an abusive remark towards Torrance.
On the same day at the car park of Kirkcaldy railway station, he shouted, swore and made abusive comments to police officers.
On various occasions on May 17 at Levenmouth police station, Methil, in a police vehicle and at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, he shouted, swore, made threats of violence towards police officers, struggled violently with them, struck out with his arms and legs, seized hold of their bodies and seized hold of their equipment trying to gain possession of it.
Depute fiscal Sarah Smith said: “The accused has some grievances regarding GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] and believes he is being discriminated against.
“Over the seven days leading up to the offending he had been visiting David Torrance MSP’s office on a regular basis to make complaints and to speak to someone regarding his concerns.”
On March 14 at 12.15pm he was at the premises and was informed to come back when the office manager was present.
He became visibly upset and was shouting: “I’ve got my rights. I need this sorted.”
He was “foaming at the mouth” and a female worker felt threatened and fearful.
Another female worker went into the back office and called the police when Batten refused to leave.
He was later arrested and released on an undertaking with conditions not to enter the MSPs office or contact the staff there.
On the morning of Sunday, April 14, Torrance had gone to his office to catch up on some work and spoke to a local councillor there.
At 11.30am they left the office to buy a newspaper and ten minutes later Batten turned up at the premises with a paint tray.
The depute went on: “He set the contents of the paint tray alight, walked to the front door of the office and tried to open it.
“On finding it to be locked, the accused stated, ‘S**t, never timed it right, never time anything right’ and walked away from the office trying to blow out the materials that were on fire.”
At about 11.45am, Torrance and the councillor returned to the office and saw Batten walking away from the scene with the tray still on fire.
Shortly afterwards Batten was back outside the office, shouting, swearing and saying he had been let down.
Torrance repeatedly reminded Batten of his bail conditions but he refused to leave and the MSP finally pressed the panic button in his office to alert the police.
Batten continued to shout and swear at the MSP calling him a “w*****” and saying: “You are going to get it.”
Torrance tried to close the front door but Batten pushed it back open and continued to shout and swear before eventually leaving.
He was tracked down by police near the rail station and became abusive towards officers. The blazing paint tray was found close by and a fire extinguisher was used on it.
On May 17, Batten turned up at Levenmouth police station “extremely animated and confrontational, pacing and waving his arms around".
He would not say why he was where and instead was shouting before lashing out at a female officer.
He began struggling violently with police in the station saying he was going to kill them and had already dug their graves.
He was transported to Victoria Hospital where he again lashed out at police officers and grabbed a taser trying to pull it from a holster.
Doctors and NHS staff sedated him.
Defence solicitor David Bell said his client’s original grievance was that, after serving a prison sentence, he believed he was no longer subject to the notification requirements of the sex offenders register.
However, police officers repeatedly came to his house telling him he was still on the register.
It was this complaint that he took to the MSP’s office. “He’s clearly gone about things the wrong way and this incident would have been extremely alarming for Mr Torrance and his staff members,” said Bell.
“Mr Batten wasn’t a well man at the time.”
Sheriff Robert More commented, “This offending is set against the background of the murders of two elected representatives in recent years as they went about their business.”
He jailed Batten for 22 months backdated to May 20, when he was remanded in custody.
The sheriff also imposed a five-year non-harassment order banning Batten from entering the MSP’s office.
After the sentencing, Torrance said: “It was terrifying that day. He was there to burn down my office. It’s just lucky we’d gone out and the door was locked. Usually when I’m working in the office, I leave the door open.
“I saw him walking away with the burning paint tray. He then came back to the office and his behaviour was at a new level again.
“It’s also been traumatic for my office staff and some of them are still suffering. He had been to the office on the first occasion and then came back a second time when he was extremely aggressively.
“My office staff are all females. When he wouldn’t leave, they barricaded themselves in the back office and called the police.
“Nobody in public life should have to put up with that level of threatening behaviour, harassment and intimidation.
“I’m glad there didn’t have to be a trial but I just hope he obeys the court order to stay away this time.”
