A FIFE teenager was caught with a BB gun just yards from Chancellor Gordon Brown’s constituency office, Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard yesterday.

James Wilson had the firearm tucked down the back of his trousers and was seen pacing up and down outside Cowdenbeath Business Centre.

A sharp-eyed resident, who saw the youth conceal the weapon, was so worried by the way he was behaving that she called the police.

Sheriff Desmond McCaffrey was told the youth could have sparked a major security alert had the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath been there.

The Chancellor travels with a team of security guards and depute fiscal John Keir said it would have been difficult to tell the weapon was not real.

Wilson (18), of Loch Leven Terrace, Kelty, admitted a breach of the peace outside the business centre on March 30 of this year.

Mr Keir told the sheriff BB guns fire pellets at a relatively low velocity.

“However, to someone who is not familiar with weapons it has the appearance of a hand gun,” he said.

“A 31-year-old lady at her home which overlooks the High Street and the business centre saw the accused put what looked like a hand gun down the back of his trousers.

“She then saw him walk up and down the street and stop as if he was waiting for someone.

“This alarmed her and she telephoned the police.”

Police approached the accused who was standing outside the business centre and asked him if he was carrying any firearms.

Wilson told them, “A toy gun.”

He told the officers he was waiting for his cousin and they had planned to spend the evening making paper targets to shoot at.

“It was a stupid thing for him to do and all the more stupid had he thought about the consequences,” Mr Keir added.

“The Chancellor of the Exchequer has his constituency office in the business centre. Had he been there he would have been accompanied by a degree of security.

“Had Mr Wilson wandered into the building with the BB gun it could have led to very serious and unfortunate consequences.”

Solicitor Graham Basten said his client knew Gordon Brown was an MP, but had no clue which party he belonged to or what his job in Government was.

Unemployed Wilson told detectives he had no interest in politics.

“He acquired this gun from the local market in Cowdenbeath and should have kept it in a box,” Mr Basten added.

“Stupidly, he took it out.

“It is an act that can best be described as one of stupidity rather than one of malice.”

Sheriff McCaffrey told Wilson, “This was a stupid thing to do.”

He ordered him to stay out of trouble for the next six months and deferred sentence until next year.