A former footballer who swung a baseball bat at his neighbour as he lay on a mattress has been spared a prison sentence.
John Carling stormed his next-door neighbour’s home on Burnside Walk, Dundee, in the early hours of the morning.
Carling and James Campbell had been embroiled in a long-running dispute.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, Carling, who was once on the books at Dundee FC and Arbroath, was given an alternative sentence to custody after admitting the offence.
It was previously revealed how the 46-year-old had spent time in prison for taking a knife into a KFC restaurant while drunk.
Baseball bat
Prosecutor Emily Hood told how Mr Campbell and others heard Carling banging at the front door at 3am.
Miss Hood said: “They recognised the accused’s voice and him saying ‘Going to open the f****** door?’
“A witness answered the door with the intention of telling the accused to leave.
“On opening the door, they observed the accused standing in the close with a baseball bat.
“The accused entered the property and stood above Mr Campbell while he was lying on a mattress.
“The accused then swung the baseball bat, attempting to strike him on the head, before leaving without saying another word.”
Struggled with police
Police were contacted a few days later but Carling was uncooperative.
He said: “I’m not going to Bell Street” and struggled with officers for a short time.
In response to being cautioned and charged, Carling said: “Not guilty.”
However, in court, Carling admitted assaulting Mr Campbell on May 30 last year by attempting to strike him on the head with a baseball bat.
He also pled guilty to obstructing police officers Callum Elder and Jamie Young by refusing to stand up, struggling with them and pulling his arms away from them at his home address on June 2.
Carling hit the headlines in 2018 after becoming involved in a bitter spat with members of a Dundee drug and alcohol recovery group, during which he sent a number of abusive text messages.
He returned to court on Friday following the preparation of social work reports.
Solicitor Ross Donnelly, defending, said Carling’s neighbours had since moved away and he has not come to the attention of the police since.
He told the court: “It seems Mr Carling is someone who has had difficulties over the course of the last few years due to health and alcohol problems.
“His record shows a cluster of offending over some two years or so.
“Since 2015, this matter apart, he has been law-abiding.”
Narrowly avoided prison
Sheriff John Rafferty placed Carling on a restriction of liberty order for 180 days, which will keep him indoors between 7pm and 5am.
He told Carling: “You, in the early hours of the morning, went to the house of a neighbour armed with a baseball bat, knocked the door, went into the house and attempted to strike someone with it while they were lying in a prone position.
“A custodial sentence is high in the court’s thinking.
“However, there has been no offending since 2015 and that matter has deflected me from a custodial sentence in this instance.”
