SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lady Ross made the following remarks in court:

"Jamie Taylor.   On 27 November 2025 at Edinburgh High Court you pled guilty to two charges. The first of these is a statutory offence, under section 2 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883.  You caused an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious damage to property.  You also committed an offence at common law, culpably and recklessly throwing a petrol bomb towards a police officer, acting in the execution of her duty, and that was to the danger of her life.

On 26 May 2025, in the early evening, you took a taxi to the West Lothian Civic Centre in Livingston, a big building of which Livingston Police Station forms part.  You took with you four vodka bottles, which you had filled with petrol.  There were five police vans and a police car parked outside the entrance to the building.  After the taxi left, you left for a short period and then you returned and you began to light and then throw these bottles towards the police station.  The first bottle hit a police van, smashing a windscreen and then bounced and landed on the ground.  That caused a burst of fire.  You ignited and threw a second bottle.  It, too, hit the ground and there was another, larger, blast of fire.  Two police officers responded very quickly, equipped with fire extinguishers.  Just as one of the police officers was trying to put out the second fire, you threw a third bottle.  That smashed at her feet, resulting in a sudden blast of fire, with the flames above the height of her head.  She was forced to retreat, quickly.  You did not throw the fourth bottle.  Instead, you ran off, but police officers did not take long to find you.  This whole episode was captured on CCTV and sight of that footage brings home the shocking and frightening nature of this activity.

You have explained that you did not see anybody in or behind the police vehicles, and, in particular, that when you threw the third flaming bottle you did not know that the police officer or her colleague were there.  As has been explained on your behalf, this was not a targeted attack against a person, and I have also been invited to take account of what the CCTV shows.  The Crown have accepted all of that, and your guilty pleas have been accepted on that basis.

Even though you were not aiming at any identified individual, you still put the police officer’s life in danger.  It takes no imagination to understand that causing explosions like this will endanger life.  This was an obviously dangerous and criminally stupid thing to do.  Why did you do it?  Things were not going well for you at the time and you had some ill-formed and ill-founded sense of grievance against the police, because of something that had happened in relation to another person.  But “the police” is not some faceless organisation.  It is made up of brave and responsible women and men, like the two police officers, who will run towards danger.  They carry out an essential public service and when they are put at risk by people engaged in criminality, that’s something that the courts take very seriously.

I have also taken very seriously the need to consider your individual circumstances and have considered with care all of the information given in the psychiatric report provided, the criminal justice social work report, other information about your time on remand and the assessment in prison as well as all that Mr McSporran has said on your behalf this morning.  Among other things, Mr McSporran has observed that the circumstances of this case are highly unusual, exceptional, perhaps unique, and he is right.  It is important to look both at what happened and at you as an individual. 

You are 34 years old.  You have 11 previous convictions.  I am concerned to note that these include four instances of assault, although I also note that you have not previously served a custodial sentence.  I am aware of the many difficulties with which you have had to contend, starting in your childhood.  There is also important information before the court about your service in the armed forces.  You were a soldier for eight years and in the course of your service I understand that you experienced significant trauma and that, in the period since, you have had real struggles with adjusting and with serious mental health issues.  Following recent assessments, you have a diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder and you have difficulties with your mental wellbeing in other respects.  You understand that you are responsible for your actions and that what you did was wrong.  And I understand that your mental ill health provides mitigation when looking at these offences. 

It is encouraging to learn that you have made progress whilst in prison on remand, including in working and participating in other positive activities.  You also have the support of your mother, your uncle and other people, including a former employer.  That is very positive.

The seriousness of your offending, involving as it did explosives and actions directed towards the police, means that there is no alternative to a custodial sentence.   I am concerned about the risk of reoffending and the risk of serious harm that you may present to the public.  It is very plain that you need help and that the way to reduce the risk will be for you to commit to addressing your problems and, crucially, with support.  You will need supervision and sustained care.  You recognise that and I encourage you to do all that you can to draw on the support available to you in custody, to learn about building good relationships and to work with those providing you with medical and psychiatric care.

You have pled guilty to two offences.  I will deal with them in cumulo, that is together.  Had I been imposing a sentence after trial, that would have been imprisonment for 5 years.  However, your plea of guilty came at an early stage and so your sentence is reduced to imprisonment for 3 years and 6 months.  That is backdated to 2 June 2025, that being the date when you were remanded in custody.  I have already mentioned the need to protect the public from serious harm, and it’s for that reason that I impose on you a supervised release order.  On your release from custody, you will be under local authority supervision for a period of 12 months.