A MAN who confessed to firebombing a Greenock flat has hit out at the NHS treatment given to his seriously ill wife – and claims he was never told she had been placed in palliative care.

Andrew Sutherland pleaded guilty last year to a charge of culpably and recklessly throwing a brick and petrol bombs at a window of a ground floor flat in Holmscroft Street in November 2020.

His wife, Sharon, was admitted to hospital that same month, and died on December 26.

Mr Sutherland claims he suffered a breakdown while he was caring for his wife, who had multiple sclerosis (MS), and that the stress he was under led to him committing the horrific attack.

The 55-year-old had originally been accused of attempted murder, but was spared a prison term after the Crown agreed to accept a plea of guilty to a less serious charge.

Andrew and Sharon on their wedding day. (Image: Andrew Sutherland)

He insists that he retaliated after a petrol bomb was thrown into his house, landing just six feet away from his wife.

He told the Tele: "I hold my hands up to what I did. I don't need to hide my face. 

"'I'm only interested in giving a voice to what happened to my wife."

Mr Sutherland says Sharon, who passed away aged 52, had lived with MS since 1996, and was 'forever in and out of hospital' in the years that followed.

He said Sharon was admitted to Inverclyde Royal in November 2020 with issues that were 'usual to her' - a chest infection, urine infection, pneumonia, and delirium. 

"I got a phone call on December 8 to tell me that her tubes were blocked and they were doing everything they could but it looked bad,” he said.

"I got another call 15 minutes later to tell me they had managed to unblock her chest. 

"It was bread and butter for me. I was used to it."

Andrew and Sharon Sutherland. (Image: Andrew Sutherland)

Mr Sutherland said that while Sharon was in hospital, he learned about plans to admit her to a care home, shortly before she was diagnosed with Covid. 

He was told later in December that his wife was going to die, but it took him around a week to get back to Greenock because of the ongoing firebombing accusations. 

He said he was able to sit with Sharon for a day and a half before she passed away on December 26. 

He added: "I couldn't have cared less about Covid. I was just concerned about comforting my wife. 

"What gives the NHS the right to end my wife's life? 

"I want justice. The only comfort I take is that she's not suffering now."

Sharon died on December 26, 2020. (Image: Andrew Sutherland)

Mr Sutherland is the uncle of two men involved in a gangland dispute that led to a series of firebombing attacks in Inverclyde.

He said there were three attempts made on his life between March and December of 2020. 

He claims he was attacked at his door with knives and that people tried to shoot him, and says that on two separate occasions, police informed him his life was under threat. 

Mr Sutherland said the petrol bomb thrown through his window was the 'straw that broke the camel's back'. 

He added: "This was all going on when I was caring for my wife. I took a breakdown and retaliated. 

"The judge was able to see the context, and saw that there had been nothing untoward for 30 years. 

"I would have pled guilty from day one if the charge was right.

"He saw my wife's death certificate, and said it was a tragic circumstance that led to me doing it, and showed me leniency."

Andrew Sutherland was spared prison after carrying out a firebomb attack on a flat in Greenock's Holmscroft Street a month before his wife's death. (Image: George Munro)

Mr Sutherland was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and was put under social work supervision for 18 months.

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "Our ongoing sympathies are with Mr Sutherland and family following the death of his wife in 2020. 

"While we cannot comment on individual cases due to confidentiality, we have reviewed this case, and remain satisfied that the patient received the appropriate care."