Elgin man jailed for threatening female neighbour and teenagers

A Moray man who terrorised his female neighbour over several weeks has been jailed for 18 months at Inverness Sheriff Court.

Sentence had been deferred on Callum Brown for a background report after he admitted two charges of threatening or abusive behaviour.

The first charge involved a campaign of abuse against a woman living next door, the other to him confronting a group of teenage boys with a hammer.

The offences took place between February 11 and March 2, last year in Springfield Road and Sandy Road, Elgin.

Brown demanded an apology from the teenagers after claiming they had hurt his dog.

The court heard the 30-year-old returned home but then re-emerged brandishing a hammer, when the boys walked past his property, and shouted: "If I ever see you up this way again, I will put you in the ground."

Fiscal depute Susan Love also detailed Brown’s behaviour towards his female neighbour.

She said: "Initially they started on good terms but then he would shout and swear at her and threatened to throw his dog over the fence and sort her out."

Ms Love said Brown made more threats against her, called her dog “vicious” and the woman 'ugly' and criticised her garden and home.

Police were called after he picked up a slab and held it over his head as if to throw it at her.

Defending, David Patterson said: "There are mental health issues here and this was when it was at an all-time low. He fully accepts he is an irritable man and takes it out on others. But he is now medicated and is now stable."

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said there was no alternative but to jail Brown whose present address was given in court papers as Provost Christie Drive in Rothes.

This was because the defendant had, despite being previously released on an undertaking at Elgin Sheriff Court, continued to behave in an "unsavoury” fashion towards his neighbour.