Dunblane gunman locked up after 20 years on the run

A gunman who went on the run for nearly two decades after fearing he would be made an example of in the wake of the Dunblane massacre was jailed for six months today.

Paul Hill fired two shots in the air following a "stramash" outside a village pub and then spent years avoiding justice.

A judge told the 42-year-old at the High Court in Edinburgh: "Had you not decided to go to the police and hand yourself in then it is unlikely your past would have caught up with you."

Lord Ericht said it was to Hill's credit that he had volunteered to face up to the consequences of what he had done in 1996.

The judge said: "Over 20 years ago you discharged a firearm in a struggle with another man outside a bar. You failed to attend trial and since then have been on the run."

Hill was originally charged with attempting to murder Crichton Davies at Gray Street, Killin, Stirling, on January 14 in 1996 by placing a loaded gun against his forehead and repeatedly firing the weapon to his permanent disfigurement.

But the Crown earlier accepted his guilty plea to culpably and recklessly discharging the gun to the danger of others. He also admitted failing to attend court in 1997, fleeing from his home address and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Lord Ericht said he recognised that the charge Hill was convicted on was "much less serious" than that he originally faced.

The judge said: "Nonetheless, the discharge of a firearm is a serious matter. You have also defied the authority of the court by failing to attend for trial and evaded arrest since then."

Lord Ericht said in those circumstances there was no alternative to a custodial sentence. But the judge added that since then Hill had led "an exemplary life" with no further convictions and had been in work and acted as registered carer for his ill father.

He said the police were not actively looking for Hill and if they had been would have found him long ago.

Defence counsel Brian McConnachie QC told the court: "Just very shortly before his trial the events in Dunblane had taken place and, perhaps somewhat unwisely, the solicitor then acting for him suggested he would be made an example of because of the circumstances."

Mr McConnachie said at that stage Hill panicked and ran off. He went to Glasgow before moving to Guernsey in the Channel Islands for a number of years and then moved to Dublin, in Ireland, before settling in Harrogate, in Yorkshire.

Hill worked as a tree surgeon and landscape gardener and then nursed his mother, who was suffering from cancer, in England up until her death. His father was also suffering ill health.

Mr McConnachie said: "There were family discussions which resulted in him making the decision that the time had come to face up to what happened in 1996."

Hill turned up at a police station in Stirling in November last year to hand himself in to officers.

The court earlier heard that the gunshot incident occurred after he had gone out as a 21-year-old with his parents, sister and a friend Neil Holman to the busy public bar of the Clachaig Hotel in Killin, near the family farm.

During the evening a drink was spilled on Hill's father William who blamed another man for the incident.

After last orders were called bar patrons began to leave about 1 am and Mr Hill senior and the other man became involved in an altercation. They began shoving and pushing each other and both ended on the ground.

Hill went over towards them and Mr Davies, then aged 24, went over to speak to him. He described Hill as being "really wound up" and told him he should go home. Hill got into a struggle with Mr Davies.

Advocate depute Ashley Edwards QC earlier told the court: "During the struggle with Crichton Davies, the accused produced a small handgun and discharged it into the air. Various people in the vicinity heard what is described as being a 'loud gunshot'."

Mr Davies tried to disarm Hill during a struggle and the gun was fired into the air for a second time. Mr Holman took the gun from Hill and emptied it of ammunition.

Police later recovered four live cartridges but the gun was never found.

Mr McConnachie pointed out that none of the charges that Hill faced were offences under the Firearms Act and said that in 1996 it was not an offence that would have resulted in a five-year minimum sentence.

"He has maintained throughout that the weapon was not his. He was given it in the pub, basically to look at, and he ended up with it in his possession," he said.

"When he left the pub there was some kind of stramash going on with his father," he said.

Mr McConnachie said the gunshot incident was "a one-off, impetuous, reckless act which had never been repeated". He added: "Since 1996 there have been no further offences of any kind. The prospect of him re-offending is extremely unlikely."

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