A fisherman allegedly caught with a crossbow, a wig, latex gloves and a mask in a public park claimed he was simply a fan of Bear Grylls.
Jamie Wisbey told a jury he had packed his bag to join a scallop fishing boat and had put those items in it after watching a TV show hosted by the survival expert.
Perth Sheriff Court heard how Wisbey was found hiding in bushes in a public park during the early hours of the morning and was acting in a “very strange” manner.
Wisbey said: “I knew I was coming to Scotland so I was watching Bear Grylls and was interested in camping and things like that. I had cat gut for fishing and cotton wool for tinder and things like that.
“I didn’t really know the wig was in the stuff in my bag. It was given to me by one of the family as a joke.” Bald Wisbey told police during an interview that the wig was to keep his head warm.
Wisbey told the jury that he had acted in a “sly and sneaky” manner by trying to hide the bag containing the crossbow and arrows and other items.
He admitted he planned to use the balaclava as a mask and said: “I thought it would be handy. It’s Scotland. It’s warm where I come from, but it’s freezing here.”
Fiscal depute Gavin Letford said: “Did Bear Grylls give you the advice to take on a fishing boat a wig, a crossbow and a mask? Were all of these items taken together not for the purpose of going on a fishing boat, but for some other purpose you were not wanting the police or court to find out about?”
Wisbey said he had seen Grylls making a bow and arrow and told the court it was “in the manual.” He said he could not explain why he failed to mention the TV star when he was interviewed initially by police. The court was told Wisbey also had 11 bottles of methadone in the name of Monique Phoenix.
A couple – who went out at 3 am to feed ducks when they could not sleep – had earlier told the court they discovered Wisbey hiding in the undergrowth near a pond in a public park.
Panel beater Josh McNeil, 39, and carer Kirsty Edmonston, 25, said they spotted Wisbey going in and out of the bushes in the South Inch park in Perth on June 1 this year.
Miss Edmonston said: “We went out to get air. We regularly have trouble sleeping. We saw a man. He was quite some distance away behind some bushes.
“He was going in and out of the bushes. It was quite a strange thing to see at that time in the morning. He jumped out in front of us. He had something he was concealing in his pocket.
“He said he was a fisherman and needed to go up north for a job. I just said it’s not right that you’re in the park at this time. He wasn’t making sense. He was very strange.”
Mr McNeil told the trial that where Wisbey was hiding would have made it difficult for any “victim” to get away from him. He said they followed him to the train station where they watched him hide a bag.
Police were called and PC David Cross, 31, said they searched Wisbey’s bag and found it contained a bizarre array of items. The officer told the court it contained a laptop, two USB sticks, a black wig, latex gloves and a dictaphone.
PC Cross added: “I also found a balaclava which had eye pieces and mouth pieces cut out. The areas which had been cut out had been re-stitched so they wouldn’t pull.”
Wisbey, from Plymouth, denies being in possession of a crossbow and arrows in the South Inch park and the railway station in Perth on 1 June this year. He also denies having a locking saw blade in the public park and at Perth railway station.
He also denies possessing methadone and the trial before a jury and Sheriff Lindsay Foulis continues.