Tooled up terror found with knives and axe before Bo'ness blade incident

Robert Laidlaw (31) appeared via video link at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday having pleaded guilty to possession of the weapons during an incident in May last year near Bellsdyke Hospital in Larbert.

Laidlaw was then arrested – he admitted threatening behaviour – in July 2021 after he took another knife from his pocket and brandished it at two men in Bo'ness.

The court heard this followed an incident in which documents, a jewellery case, jewellery and trinkets were stolen from a house at Stacks Farm, Carriden Brae, Bo'ness.Sheriff Christopher Shead said Laidlaw had been in possession of "what is clearly an arsenal of weapons".

He said Laidlaw had a "significant" previous conviction for violence, and a recent previous conviction for dishonesty.

Sheriff Shead jailed Laidlaw for 22-and-a-half months, backdated to July 21 last year.

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