Albanian convicted of attempted murder of police officer after chainsaw chase

A man has been convicted of chasing a police officer with a chainsaw and attempting to murder him.

Liridon Kastrati, 32, had been accused of ramming a car into a marked police vehicle and then brandishing a chainsaw at officers in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in broad daylight on May 6 2024 at about 1.30pm.

He had denied a single charge of attempting to murder four police officers but, on Tuesday, was convicted of an amended charge of attempted murder in relation to one person, Pc Gary Cowan, following a trial at the High Court in Paisley.

The amended charge also removed reference to the car crash.

On Monday, Kastrati was acquitted of charges of breach of the peace, stealing a car and motoring offences when the prosecution withdrew those four charges. He had denied those charges.

Kastrati will be sentenced on December 19 at the High Court in Paisley and Judge Gallacher told him to expect a “significant penalty”.

Giving evidence last week, Pc Cowan told the court that, after the crash, the police car’s airbag’s blew up, and a man got out of the driver’s side door of the VW, looked at the police car and “began to run away”, the court heard.

He said he approached the man with the intention of arresting him, but when he was “about 10 metres” away the man returned to his vehicle and got out a chainsaw before pursuing him, shouting, “f*** the police”, the court heard.

Pc Cowan said. “He was chasing after me with the chainsaw, holding the chainsaw up, running after me.”

He added: “I thought if I don’t create distance, he is going to kill me.”

The police officer, 35, said he believed Kastrati would “saw my arms off, chop my head off,” and that he was “terrified”.

The court previously heard that Kastrati was questioned on May 6 without either a solicitor or an Albanian interpreter present, and made reference repeatedly to the collision being a “car accident” when charges were read to him.

Kastrati has been remanded in custody for 18 months since the crash.

On Tuesday, John Scullion KC, defending Kastrati, told the jury: “Mr Kastrati accepts he removes a chainsaw from the car, he swore, he injured PC Cowan, he brandished the chainsaw at other officers during this frightening and distressing incident. You must convict him of those parts.”

However, Mr Scullion claimed the police investigation was “flawed” and “lacked neutrality and objectivity”.

The jury returned a verdict after three hours of deliberation.

After Kastrati was convicted of the amended charge, Judge Gallacher told him: “You have been convicted of a charge which is subject to a number of deletions but remains a very serious charge.

“The law requires I obtain more information upon you but you may take it the court will in due course impose a significant penalty in relation to this very dangerous incident.

“I cannot do that until I get more information and will in due course get more information from Mr Scullion.”

Local Policing Commander Chief Superintendent Rhona Fraser said: “Every officer has the fundamental right to come home from each shift unharmed.

“No-one should face this deplorable level of criminality and it will not be tolerated.

“This type of incident shows the unpredictable and dangerous situations police officers can face, while doing their utmost to keep people safe.”