Threat to bomb police station

[Nwicker60]

Accused said to have been acting on "voices in my head"

A WOMAN made repeated phone calls to her local police station threatening to petrol bomb it, Wick Sheriff Court heard today.
Joanne Peacher, 46, was said to be acting on "voices in my head". She pleaded guilty to causing annoyance and inconvenience to officers and was remanded in custody.
The court heard that the police received three 999 bomb threats, at their Wick headquarters between Saturday and Sunday. Suspicion fell on Peacher who was interviewed and admitted sending the messages, blaming "the voices" which got louder when she didn't take her medication.
David Barclay, prosecuting, said that the voices also told her to self-harm. The fiscal made the point that the police were dealing with three other major inquiries in Caithness over the weekend and the bomb threat had stretched their resources even further.
Mr Barclay continued: "Clearly, given the ominous nature, the messages were being taken seriously and some officers were given the dedicated task of carry out a search of the police station perimeter."
Solicitor Patrick O' Dea said he had spoken to Peacher's husband who said that his wife had had difficulty, recently, regarding her medication for "auditory hallucinations" and he was uncertain whether she had stopped taking it, or if it was no longer having the desired effect.
Mr O' Dea went on: "If that is the case, Mrs Peacher is in poor health and her symptoms are continuing to exist. She does not wish to offend but the voices are also telling her to take her own life so she is in a very difficult position indeed."
Remanding the accused, Sheriff Andrew Berry, who observed that Peacher, of 55 Kennedy Terrace, Wick, had previous convictions of a similar nature including a prison sentence in the North of England, told her: "I am concerned about your own safety and security, as well as the public interest."
Peacher will reappear for sentence on July 10,