Midlothian crime: Dalkeith man answered door to police holding gun, Edinburgh court told

The 53-year-old opened the front door to police holding the gun

A Midlothian man sparked an armed police response after he called 999 and claimed a man had handed him a gun and ordered him to shoot himself.

Brian McCallion told the emergency operator he was in possession of a weapon causing firearm specialists to race to his home in Dalkeith, Midlothian. McCallion, 53, opened the front door to officers while holding the black gun but was quickly disarmed and arrested.

McCallion pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing an air weapon without the proper certification at his home when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday. Prosecutor Ross Price told the court McCallion had contacted Police Scotland and said “a gun had been delivered to his address” on December 17, 2021.

An Edinburgh court has been told of how a Dalkeith man answered the door to armed police holding a firearm. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Mr Price said: “He said the person who delivered it wanted him, the accused, to shoot himself. Constables attended, and indeed firearm constables attended, and made their presence known to the accused and identified themselves as armed police.

"After a short time, the accused opened the door and had a black air pistol in his hand that was pointed towards the ground. At no point was the pistol pointed at anyone.”

The fiscal depute said the air gun had “a resemblance to a Beretta” and after being ordered to drop the weapon McCallion had thrown the firearm into his garden. McCallion was arrested and charged and during subsequent police interview he admitted to police he believed the gun to be real.

Sheriff Daniel Kelly said he was deferring sentence to next month for the preparation of social work reports. The Crown moved for the forfeiture of the gun and a decision on that motion will be decided at the sentencing hearing.

McCallion pleaded guilty to possessing an air weapon without the proper certificate at Gibraltar Gardens, Dalkeith, Midlothian, on December 17, 2021.