Man, 51, who fired a crossbow at couple's windows has to wait longer to learn fate

HE CLAIMED HE HAD BEEN 'HYPNOTISED' DURING FRIGHTENING INCIDENT

- By MARK NAYLOR

SENTENCING has been delayed in the case of a man who left a couple terrified after repeatedly pointing and firing a crossbow at their windows.

Andrew Woollen left the man and his girlfriend feeling unsafe in their home after they suffered a “terrifying ordeal” at his hands.

He was a so-called longtime friend but he suddenly started firing a crossbow at the windows of their home late at night and completely out of the blue.

He later made the “bizarre” claim that he had been “hypnotised” into using the crossbow during the frightening incident, Hull Crown Court heard.

Woollen, 51, of Perth Street, off Chanterlands Avenue, Hull, had earlier been found unfit to stand trial on charges of attempted murder, possessing a crossbow as an offensive weapon, having a lock knife in public and causing criminal damage to the couple's home by firing the crossbow on October 7.

The court had, at a previous hearing, been told that Woollen was “not well enough to be here” and a jury was asked to decide in his absence whether he committed the acts involved in the charges. The jury decided that he had done so.