‘Terrifed’ police officer shut man in a cupboard

Claims couple were growing cannabis at their home

A police officer told how she contained a man who pointed a gun at her by shutting him in a cupboard at his house.

PC Gemma Smith told a jury yesterday that she felt “terrified” when Philip Moreton, 31, held the weapon towards her at his property near Kirriemuir last March.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how PC Smith and her colleague, PC Gail Beattie, were trying to detain Mr Moreton in connection with a domestic abuse allegation.

The court heard PC Smith say that Mr Moreton refused to be handcuffed and struggled with her and PC Beattie.

She said that he grabbed a rifle and held it towards the police officers. PC Smith said that Mr Moreton was standing in a cupboard at the time.

PC Smith said: “I shut the door. I was terrified. I used my radio to inform my control room that he had a gun. He shouted ‘it’s not a gun.’ I knew it definitely was a gun. I put my back to the door and braced myself against the wall in a bid to contain him there.”

PC Smith was giving evidence on the second day of proceedings against Mr Moreton and his 35-year-old partner Cheyrell Davie.

Prosecutors allege that on March 4 2016, at Glackburn Farm, Glen Prosen, near Kirriemuir, Moreton and Davie produced cannabis in contravention of the Misuse of Drugs act.

The Crown also alleges that on the same date at the same location, Moreton resisted, obstructed and “hindered” PCs Barry Stewart and Gail Beattie by escaping from them.

It is also alleged that on the same date at the same location, Davie committed a breach of the peace by placing a child in “a state of fear and alarm”.

The Crown also claim Moreton resisted PCs Beattie and Smith and prevented them from executing their duty, that Moreton assaulted PCs Smith and Beattie and presented a loaded air rifle at them and breached the 1968 Firearms Act.

Prosecutors also claim that Davie abducted PC Smith and PC Beattie by locking doors and refusing to unlock the doors or allowing them to leave.

The Crown then says that Moreton attempted to pervert the course of justice by setting alight cannabis plants which had been grown at the premises and Davie resisted Sergeants Andrew McNutt and Lee Bain by tensing her body and attempting to pull away from them. Moreton and Davie deny the charges. The trial, before Lord Pentland, continues.