Man faces trial for escape from custody and threat to kill ex-girlfriend allegations
A 33-year-old man will go on trial next month accused of escaping from custody in Fife then threatening to kill his former partner.
Arran Swift, currently a prisoner at Perth, has pled not guilty to a string of charges and a trial date has been set for Dunfermline Sheriff Court on 27th January.
Swift is accused of breaking free from a security officer taking him to court in Dunfermline then sending his former partner messages implying that he was watching her and saying he was going to kill her.
It is also alleged that having escaped from custody, Swift went to the Cowdenbeath home of another ex-partner and begged her to let him in.
He is also accused of previously of threatening to blow up the home of an ex-partner and that of her mother.
Another allegation is that he threatened to kill children and set fire to the gas mains of an ex-partner’s home.
The charges are that between 1st May and 19th August at addresses in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath he engaged in an abusive course of conduct towards an ex-partner.
That he obtained a key for her property without her permission, entered her house uninvited, repeatedly contacted her knowing this was unwanted, sent her messages threatening violence, threatened to kill his children and threatened to set fire to the gas mans at her home.
Also, that having escaped from custody, he attended at her home in Cowdenbeath, begging her to allow him in, repeatedly asked her to meet him and give him a key to her home.
It is also alleged that on 12th July at an address in Auchtermuchty he sent electronic messages to another former partner, threatening to kill her, threatening to blow up her house and her mother’s house.
It is further alleged that on 19th August at Dunfermline police station, Swift assaulted a GEOAmey custody officer, pulled his handcuffed arm across his body causing the officer to fall to the ground. He then pulled his arm out of the handcuff, causing the officer to be pulled along the ground, all to his injury and then ran away attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
On the same day and 20th August, it alleged that he sent electronic messages to a former partner in Ballingry repeatedly saying that he was going to kill her and implied he was watching her home.
Swift is also accused of sending threatening messages to another woman in Kirkcaldy.
