A Twitter/X troll who made notes about mass shootings told staff and police he was going to bomb the University of Glasgow.
The sick threats were dubbed "a laugh" by Owen Ferguson, who made references to "beating Hamilton's high score" in social media posts before being arrested – believed to be a reference to Dunblane massacre shooter Thomas Hamilton.
The 26-year-old, understood to be from the Three Towns, was jailed when he appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week after pleading guilty to one charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Ferguson's wicked taunts first came to light on December 1 last year following a call to Police Scotland on 101, prosecutor Gemma McKechnie told the court.
The person who contacted cops claimed to be a student at the University of Glasgow who stated they were due to attend the following morning and that they were concerned for their safety.
This arose due to threats made by an X (formerly Twitter) account under the name 'Jaja' [@newjiggerALLAH] to enter the university building with "knives and napalm bombs”.
The account was found to belong to Ferguson, and posts were still live at the time of the call - and remain so at the time of writing.
Other posts appear to show that similar threats were made to other organisations – including our sister paper the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.
It was also discovered that the telephone number attributed to the call was registered to the Ferguson.
Just minutes after the call to police, Ferguson contacted the University of Glasgow and was directed to the campus security team.
"He told an officer he was going to bring devices into the university premises and detonate them," McKechnie added. "He went into detail about the devices including the make and model of them.
"He said he would attend at 11.30am the following day and said the security officer should have the building evacuated."
After the call ended, the security staff contacted police who realised the number matched that of the earlier 101 call.
Officers then made attempts to trace Ferguson, who was found within St Andrew's Hostel in Kilmarnock, where he was staying at the time, the following day.
He was then arrested and taken to the town's police office, where he only asked if the university had been evacuated.
His hostel room was later searched with cops discovering a notepad which, amongst various pages, included "drawing and references" to mass shootings in the USA and New Zealand.
Ferguson was then formally cautioned and charged, to which he made no reply.
Defending, solicitor Brian Holliman referred to his client's extensive criminal record since 2020.
"He has only been at liberty for around a period of eight weeks," the lawyer said. "He has difficulty when released.
"He has a longstanding and chronic difficulty with alcohol. He had been out of prison for around a month at the time of the offence.
"He had stayed away from alcohol but was heavily intoxicated when he did this. When sober, his explanation of this behaviour makes no rational sense."
Holliman stated that Ferguson understood how the calls may have seemed to those receiving them but that there was no intention to cause harm.
He added: "He thought it would be a laugh to have the university evacuated. He set up the social media account deliberately that day to antagonise and provoke reaction.
"Having posted, he made the calls to police and the university to ensure the message had been noted. He wanted a reaction and wanted to know what that was."
The solicitor highlighted that Ferguson had been identified quickly by police and was fully co-operative when apprehended by officers when he was "in a better state of sobriety".
"There were about one hundred pages within [the notepad], to his recollection," the lawyer said.
"There were numerous lists, annotations and drawings, which included things like films he wished to watch.
"The points noted by police were random comments he made on matters he had a passing interest in.
"In the context of the narration, I understand why such comments might cause concern. He wants to make clear they were not indicative of any intention on his part."
Holliman conceded that Ferguson knew a period in custody was inevitable but asked that consideration be given to the early timing of his guilty plea.
Sentencing, Sheriff George Jamieson said: “This is a disturbing matter, very serious behaviour, this will be marked by a prison sentence.”
Ferguson was sentenced to 30 months behind bars, backdated to December 3 last year.
