Thurso musician furious with 'aggressive police'
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A THURSO musician who has raised thousands of pounds for good causes claims he was a victim of "aggressive police" after being detained and searched while parked in the harbour area of the town.
Donnie Williamson, also known under his stage name of Howlin Gael, is a keen fisherman and claims he was surveying the water for salmon moving upstream on the evening of Wednesday, April 10, when police questioned and then handcuffed him, leaving marks on his wrists.
"I was just sitting in my van having a cup of tea and watching for salmon when they [the police] pulled alongside me in an unmarked car and started asking questions," he said. "They wanted to know what I was doing so I told them I was just checking for fish moving up the river.
"I planned to go fishing the next day and it's completely normal for a fisherman to look over the river the evening before he goes out."
Mr Williamson said that he felt there was "no good reason" for the police to stop and question him in the first place and that they should be there to "protect and serve the public rather than harass them".
"They said I was being detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act but I don't use drugs. I can only assume they went on my appearance as I have my hair in a ponytail, but that is not reason enough to detain and search me."
A police spokesman said: "Police Scotland can confirm that a man was stopped and searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act in the harbour area of Thurso on Wednesday, April 10.
"The search was negative and was carried out in accordance with the code of practice on the use of stop and search."
The Police Scotland code of practice states that "powers of stop and search are used when a police officer reasonably suspects you to be in possession of an illegal or harmful item".
It further states: "Officers must have a specific reason to conduct a search and must carry out that search using a specific statutory power. An officer cannot search you without a specific reason, even with your consent."
Mr Williamson claims he has never been convicted of any drugs offence or questioned before on such a matter. When he refused to give his personal details he said the tension suddenly ramped up and the female police officer "went from one to a hundred on the aggression scale".
"The questions went from being friendly to becoming more intrusive. When she asked for my personal details I politely declined and that's when her mannerisms became aggressive. She clearly didn't like to have her authority challenged."
He then claimed that the female officer, who was in uniform, said she would check his vehicle's numberplate to confirm his identity and then proceeded to reverse behind his van and block him in.
"I got out and took a photograph. That's when I was handcuffed and searched and then my van was searched too. It was humiliating to be standing out in the open being treated like this when you knew you'd done nothing wrong.
"At one point the lady officer even took a filleting knife out of my fishing tackle bag in the van and threatened she could put me in the cells overnight for it if she wanted to. It's totally ridiculous as it's normal gear for a fisherman to have in his bag.
"They even called other officers in, as if it was a major incident. That took them away from dealing with real crimes in the area and was a total waste of time."
The search failed to find any illicit drugs and, though Mr Williamson was not charged with any offence, he said the incident has left him "very shaken" and now suspicious of the police.
"I was also left with marks on my wrists as the handcuffs were too tight but the marks run deeper than that and it's really affected me. I'm furious and I feel my rights have been violated."
Since putting photographs of his marked wrists and details of the incident on social media, Mr Williamson claims to have received great support from people who know him for his charity work as musician Howlin Gael.
"I've been inundated with stories from people who had similar experiences with the police," he said. "I just feel everyone should have the right to privacy and I'm angry that right was taken away from me for no good reason."
