A former Royal Marine Commando went after a suspected sexual predator armed with a makeshift knife he used for making model aeroplanes with his son.
Paul Staples grabbed the home-made weapon, fashioned from a toothbrush and a craft blade, before going on the hunt for a man he believed was responsible for sexually assaulting a woman.
The police were called and Staples was found some distance from his home, but without the weapon.
He told officers he dumped it behind some garages near his property. Yesterday at Perth Sheriff Court he was ordered to carry out unpaid work.
The 51-year-old had earlier pleaded guilty to having an offensive weapon in a public place on Firbank Road, Perth, on April 3.
Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said police traced the accused at 8.05pm and spoke to him.
“He said he had a knife earlier that evening and had ditched it,” she said.
“He had intended to find somebody that evening. He showed the police the knife, which was in a garage area.
“It was a toothbrush with a Stanley blade melted on to it.”
She added that Staples had “thought better” of carrying the knife with him.
Solicitor Ross Porter, defending, said Staples had gone out after learning of an alleged sexual assault on a woman earlier that day.
He said: “His intent was to confront the man and he picked up this modelling knife.
“It’s something he made for when he and his son are making models.”
He said Staples had ditched the blade 100 yards from his home but had walked around a mile by the time he was found by police.
Sheriff William Wood ordered Staples, of Firbank Road, to do 200 hours of unpaid work and to forfeit the knife.