Police told not to stop car of Skye shooting suspect

Sgt Christopher Tait, who was a police constable at the time, told the trial in Edinburgh he was initially told to respond to a stabbing on the island at Tarskavaig, but it was later revised to include a shooting.

Sgt Tait, 36, said he saw Mr MacDonald’s Subaru vehicle drive past, at which point he performed a three-point turn and followed the vehicle.

He contacted the Police Scotland control room in Dundee and was joined by a police inspector in another car.

He said his blue-light sirens had been active but he had turned them off when he began following the Subaru.

Sgt Tait said Mr MacDonald appeared to be driving in a “normal” way as they passed over the Skye Bridge, but that he “sped up” when they approached the house in Dornie.

He recalled seeing the driver at the top of driveway holding a firearm before firing through the window.

The driver is then said to have run into the house, where Sgt Tait and his colleague followed before shouting at him to drop the weapon.

A taser was then discharged at the gunman and an injured man and woman were found at the home.