Falkirk hostel hostility caused by undercover agent mix up

Gary Crossan (43) claimed he went to hostel staff to plead his case to be removed from the premises because he felt he was in danger after other residents came to the mistaken conclusion he was some sort of undercover operative.

Crossan, Castings Hostel, 14 Castings Avenue, Falkirk, appeared from custody via video link at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday, having admitted behaving in a threatening manner at the hostel on October 21.

Procurator fiscal depute Nahbeela Rahmatullah said: “It was 6.15pm and the witnesses – support officers at the Castings – were on duty. The accused was a resident of the Castings and had been causing issues with staff and other residents since moving in to the hostel.

“The officers were catching up on some paperwork when the accused appeared and demanded to speak to them. They said they were busy and he began to shout and swear, banging on the window, saying they didn’t care.

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“The felt intimidated, so securely locked the door of the reception area. The later at 7.30pm a witness was returning to the reception area when the accused stop them and said ‘I want to fight you’.

“He repeated this three times while pointing at the witness’s face.”

Police were called and Crossan was arrested.

The court heard Crossan, an ex-serviceman, had only been resident at the hostel for a short time having found himself homeless for the first time in his life.

While living at the Castings he had been preparing for a pensions tribunal and someone at the hostel had caught sight of his official documentation with the Ministry of Defence heading on it.

It was stated they then got the wrong idea about Crossan, believing him to be a policeman or even a spy, and began to harass and threaten him.

He claimed that was why he went to staff, to tell them he had to get moved out of the hostel.

Crossan accepted he should not have acted in the way he did, however.

Sheriff Christopher Shead placed Crossan on a supervised community payback order for 12 months with the condition he complete 160 hours unpaid work in that time.

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