A Scots Royal Navy sailor who threatened a superior officer with a rifle on board a warship in a scenario reminiscent of a fatal shooting on the submarine HMS Astute has been jailed for three years and dismissed.
Leading Seaman (Above Water Warfare) Kevin Moffat, 45, from Edinburgh, had denied unlawful possession of a firearm during his earlier court martial but was convicted by a panel.
Judge Advocate Robert Hill, sitting at Bulford Court Martial Centre in Wiltshire, imposed the term to be served at a civilian jail, an official confirmed.
Moffat was drafted at short notice to serve on the now-decommissioned HMS Edinburgh last summer.
He became worried as his partner was due to give birth this January.
On September 28 he took an SA80 service rifle and went to the cabin of Lieutenant Commander Robert Williams and said: "Sir, you know me, this is a loaded weapon and it's cocked. I want to talk to you."
He denied threatening Lt Cdr Williams and claimed he instead told him: "Sir, you know me, this is not a loaded weapon. I want to talk to you."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article