A Fife man appeared in court in Dundee and admitted threatening to cut the throats of a couple who had called police after seeing him acting suspiciously.
Kevin Flood, 23, of West High Street, Buckhaven, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner which caused fear and alarm to the couple, aged 64, shouting and swearing and uttering threats of violence.
He also admitted possessing a knife on August 31 2013, in Mains Loan, Dundee, both offences while on bail.
Depute fiscal Vicky Bell told the court Flood, who lived in Dundee at the time of the offences, had recently served a four-month sentence for housebreaking.
She told the court the couple saw the accused acting in a suspicious manner near the former Keillor factory and called the police.
She said: “When police arrived the accused ran off in Mains Loan and went into a garden but he was traced and arrested by the officers. Asked if he had anything on him, he told the officers he had a Stanley knife and handed it over to them.
“After being placed in a police vehicle to be taken to police HQ, he saw the witnesses and threatened them, shouting: “Come on then, you grassing b*******, I’ll have you, I’ll slash your f***** throats.”
Solicitor Paul Parker Smith said Flood had been on a bail curfew for 11 months and pointed out the previous offence was not for domestic housebreaking, it was the former Dundee College building which was semi derelict.
He said: “He is a scavenger, not a predator,” and added that the threats of violence were only heard by the police in the vehicle and not by the couple.
Mr Parker Smith said Flood wanted the case to be dealt with there and then, but Sheriff George Way said he wanted a report due to his previous convictions for assault and possession of a knife.
He deferred sentence until August 12 and granted Flood bail.