Alleged attacker 'brandished sword at police'

Published on Friday 12 June 2009 22:13

ONE of two men accused of attempted murder at the 2008 T In The Park festival was involved in a six-hour standoff with police a month later, a jury heard yesterday.

Robert Kidd, 24, brandished a Samurai sword at four officers who entered his back garden in plain clothes to arrest him.

He allegedly threatened to stab them, then climbed through a window on to the roof of his bungalow at Grampian Way in Glasgow's Barrhead and stayed there until he was talked down by negotiators from Strathclyde Police.

Sgt Craig Semple, 38, based at Partick, told the jury at the High Court in Dunfermline that on 15 August 2008 he was informed the house needed to be searched for Kidd.

Sgt Semple said he and the other officers arrived at 7.40am and saw Kidd in the back kitchen of the detached home, separated from them by patio doors.

Sgt Semple said: "Mr Kidd raised a Samurai sword that was sitting next to him and threatened myself and my colleagues with it. He said 'f*** off or I'll f***ing stab you'. He raised his Samurai sword in a motion that made me think that if I took one step towards him, he would go for me with it."

Sgt Semple said Kidd then ran out of view and re-appeared on the roof.

Sgt Semple was giving evidence on the last day of the prosecution case against Kidd and co-accused John Tiffoney, 25, of Cardiff.

Both have pled not guilty to attempting to murder bank worker Mark Morrison, 23, who was allegedly stabbed 11 times at the music festival in Balado, Kinross-shire, on 13 July last year.

Kidd denies shouting and swearing and threatening officers with violence during the incident at his home in Barrhead.