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Nwicker60
11-Sep-15, 16:35
Woman tells sheriff from the dock -"When I hear the voices...I have to do something"

A SHERIFF has stepped back from imposing a prison sentence meantime, on a woman who threatened to petrol bomb her local police station, for the third time in a matter of months - "driven by voice in her head".
Sheriff Andrew Berry called for a full report, including a medical assessment of Joanne Peacher and commented that her psychiatrist had made the point in an earlier report that the accused should "not be allowed to hide behind her medical difficulties, in terms of blaming them for her behaviour".
Peacher, 46, of 55 Kennedy Terrace, Wick, admitted her third bomb threat charge on Tuesday, having pleaded guilty at the town's sheriff court, to her second such charge the previous Friday when she was placed under supervision with an instruction to co-operate with medics.
Sheriff Berry warned her, then, to behave and said that if she didn't the point may be reached where the only option was a custodial sentence.
David Barclay, prosecuting, told the court that while out walking in the Harrowhill area of Wick, on September 7, Peacher made a call to the control room at the Highland headquarters of Police Scotland, in Inverness, threatening to petrol bomb their Wick area station. The fiscal said that there was a suggestion by Peacher to officers, that she might have been taking the wrong mix of medication, that day
Ross Anderson told the court: "I agree that the time has come when something needs to be done but I would not say that prison is the right way to go".
The solicitor appealed to Sheriff Berry to give the fullest consideration to other alternatives before sentencing the accused. He said that Peacher had mental health problems and he flagged up medical help under a detention order at Newscraigs Hospital in Inverness, as possibility.
Mr Anderson added: "It is my submission that a prison sentence would not be the most appropriate disposal if there a mechanism that would allow the accused to continue living in the community under an order that would ensure she took the appropriate medication."
Sheriff Berry said it was "a complex issue" in that there was "nothing to indicate that Peacher "had an overwhelming difficulty that caused her to repeatedly behave in the way she does". The sheriff said that "matters have not been helped" by the short timescale of offending. He added that, sometimes, the court runs out options and has to act in the public interest."
At that point, Peacher dramatically spoke out from the dock saying- "When I hear the voices I have to do something..."
The sheriff told Peacher: "I specifically told you, recently, that if there was any further offending I might have no choice, in the public interest, but to send you to prison. However, I am going to continue the case for a full report so I have the best picture in deciding what to do with you".
Peacher was remanded pending sentence on September 28.