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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Tim Bugler

Politician's stalker jailed for three years and banned from entire Scottish town

A politician's stalker was jailed for three years today and banned from an entire Scottish town for a decade after threatening to act like primary school shooter Thomas Hamilton at the MSP's home.

James Lynn-Wilson was hit with a series of wide-ranging orders after a court rejected his own bizarre call for him to be sent for euthanasia on the basis that his psychological condition, lack of empathy, is untreatable.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Lynn-Wilson, 49, had made an "angry, erratic and abusive" call to Police Scotland and asked for the Chief Constable's office before making the threat.

A call handler said she "felt quite sick" after taking him to mean that he was going to take a gun to the address in Bridge of Alllan, Stirlingshire where the MSP, Conservative Stephen Kerr, lived and do what Hamilton did at Dunblane Primary School in the 1996 massacre.

Police were scrambled and Lynn-Wilson was arrested on a bus in Bonnybridge.

He walked towards a female cop holding his hands in front of him as if expecting to be cuffed, repeating over and over again he was going to go to Mr Kerr's address and do what Thomas Hamilton had done.

The incident, in July 2021, was the second time in seven months that Lynn-Wilson had phoned the police mentioning Hamilton's name and making threats to go to Mr Kerr's house.

In December 2020 he rang police and gave his name, but added "some people called me Thomas Hamilton."

He then asked the call handler if she remembered the Dublane shootings, and mentioned the name of murdered class teacher Gwen Mayor.

Police found Lynn-Wilson, "agitated and quite aggressive," two minutes' walk from Mr Kerr's.

At a jury trial in March, Lynn-Wilson, of Denny, also Stirlingshire, initially denied two charges of threatening and abusive behaviour but changed his plea to guilty.

Sentence was deferred until today for reports, which revealed a psychologist had found Lynn-Wilson had "no empathy."

Lynn-Wilson, who represented himself, said: "They can't fix that."

He asked the court to impose a Mappa (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement) order, which he said he'd had previously, or to arrange for him to be put to sleep -- understood to be a reference to euthanasia.

He said: "I've got two options left to me. Give me back the Mappa or give me permission to go to Europe on a day appointed by the court and go for a long sleep indefinitely."

Sheriff Simon Collins QC imposed the three jail term, backdated 11 months to allow for time already spent in custody, and ordered him to be subject to social work supervision for 12 months after his release.

He also imposed a non-harassment order, forbidding him from approaching or contacting Mr Kerr or Mr Kerr's wife Yvonne Kerr for 10 years, and forbidding him from entering the entire town of Bridge of Allan -- pop. 5320, less than four miles from Dunblane -- for the same period.

Sheriff Collins said: "I certainly cannot and will not authorise you to be removed to Europe to be put to a long sleep.

"Both these offences related to your continuing, and as far as I can see, obsessive, fixation on the harassment of Stephen Kerr and his family.

"It is a matter for which you were previously sentenced to 26 months imprisonment by the High Court.

"I've read the criminal justice social work report which suggests that you do not regret these offences and you have neither the intention nor the ability to modify your offending behaviour towards Mr Kerr and his family.

"You present a high risk of re-offending and a custodial sentence is inevitable, not just for punishment but for the protection of the public and Mr Kerr and his family."

He also recommended that on his release he should be subject to a Category 3 Mappa referral -- reserved for dangerous offenders who have committed an offence in the past and who are considered to pose a risk of serious harm to the public.

Mappa arrangements provide a framework where police, social work, and the prison service work together to share information and "ensure the successful management of violent offenders."

The court heard Lynn-Wilson was on bail at the time of the incidents and had previously been jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh for stalking Mr Kerr, who is the former Conservative MP for Stirling as well as a current MSP.

In 2016 the High Court heard there was a history of animosity by Lynn-Wilson, a former Mormon, towards Mr Kerr, after Lynn-Wilson was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2004 for "conduct unbecoming" towards the politician, a church elder.

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