Daughter of councillor is carjacked in city attack

A CITY councillor has told how his daughter was carjacked in broad daylight by a man who used her vehicle to run down a security officer before tearing through Edinburgh in a high-speed police chase.

• The overturned car at the end of the chase

Catriona Perry was forced to flee after the man, who had fled from security officers near St Leonard's Police Station, flagged down her Ford Fiesta on Holyrood Park Road and simply said: "Drive".

He then got into the driver's seat and is said to have driven at the Reliance officer and sped across the city centre before ploughing into a bollard in a residential area of Leith. The chase, which began shortly after 8.15am yesterday, lasted just 15 minutes but involved dozens of officers. It ended with the Fiesta on its roof and written off on Primrose Street.

Veteran Labour councillor Ian Perry said his daughter had been on the way to work at the time and had been left badly shaken by the ordeal.

The man ran towards the car, which was travelling towards the city, and got into the passenger seat, before leaping into the driver's seat when Catriona fled.

Mr Perry told the Evening News: "This was a traumatic experience for my daughter but fortunately she wasn't injured.

"Clearly she is upset over what happened. Catriona had the good sense to get out of the car when he got in. At no point did she engage the guy and that was the right thing to do. The worst situation you'd want to be in is stuck in the car with him."

Mr Perry said Cationa's car had been written off, but that she had been unharmed during the incident. He added: "She's a bit shaken up but she just needs to forget about it and get on with things."

The 29-year-old Reliance officer was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with a suspected broken leg and chest injuries, although it is understood these are not as serious as first thought.

Primrose Street residents described their terror as the car tore through the area shortly after local children had left for school.

Sean Kernan, who works as a nurse and also studies medicine, told of how he was forced to "dive" out of the way as the Fiesta sped towards him.

The 19-year-old said: "I was helping my mum, who is disabled, to get her car out of the garage when we heard tyres screeching.

"The guy half-skidded around the corner and came into the street, going at at full pelt. I actually had to dive on to the ground to avoid it. There were eight police vehicles behind it, bikes, cars, everything. He got to the end of the street and ploughed straight into the bollards. The car did a 180 (degree] forward roll and landed on its roof." The man was taken to hospital and detained in custody.

Reliance said it was conducting an investigation into the escape.

A spokesman said: "We are conducting a full and thorough investigation into the circumstances."

n A 27-year-old man has been charged in connection with a number of offences, including counts of assault against police officers, a Reliance custody guard, and a female driver. He has also been charged in connection with robbery, culpable reckless conduct and several other driving offences, and was due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.