Man 'thought friend was Saddam'

The court heard Crozier was a war veteran

A Gulf War veteran carried out a frenzied attack on a friend because he thought he was former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a court has heard.

It took a jury just 20 minutes to find Scott Crozier not guilty of the assault by reason of mental illness at the High Court in Aberdeen.

The 30-year-old, who served as a soldier in the first Gulf War, attacked Gary Cunningham with a screwdriver at his home at Crimmond, near Fraserburgh, in Aberdeenshire, last year.

Mr Cunningham was left permanently disfigured as a result.

He believed he had a mission to complete, to kill Saddam Hussein and he would do this by stabbing him in the eye

Dr Janice Duncan, consultant psychiatrist

In an unusual move, both the Crown and the defence agreed that Crozier had carried out the attack but that he was mentally ill at the time.

The judge, Lord Philip, said the case was "slightly unusual and unfortunate" and ordered that Crozier be detained at the State Hospital at Carstairs.

Crozier had denied the charge and lodged a special defence of mental illness which meant he was not responsible for his actions at the time.

Doctors at Carstairs, where Crozier was admitted on 1 May 2002, said he displayed classic symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

Immediately after the attack on 20 March 2002, Crozier was taken to the Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen but discharged himself two days later and was taken into police custody.

Dr Janice Duncan, a consultant psychiatrist at the State Hospital in Carstairs, said that after he had been charged Crozier was seen by a fellow psychiatrist, Dr Bremner.

She said: "During this interview he stated that Mr Cunningham looked like Saddam Hussein. He believed him to be Saddam Hussein.

"He believed he had a mission to complete, to kill Saddam Hussein and he would do this by stabbing him in the eye.

"He believed Saddam Hussein was living in Scotland disguised as a farmer."

'Severe mental illness'

She said Crozier believed that he would be rewarded with medals for killing Saddam Hussein.

Defence advocate Andrew Brown said Crozier had served as a soldier in the Army during the first Gulf War but had experienced "difficulties" and had been discharged on compassionate grounds.

Dr Duncan said there were indications Crozier was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his experiences in the Gulf but said that he had received no psychiatric treatment for this.

Another consultant psychiatrist, Dr Isobel Campbell, said she believed Crozier was suffering from a "severe mental illness" - paranoid schizophrenia - at the time of the offence.

The Crown had amended the charge from one of attempted murder to a charge of assault.

It also withdrew a second charge alleging that while in the Royal Cornhill Hospital Crozier had telephoned a police station and threatened to kill Mr Cunningham.