A Fife man who once pretended he was ex-gangster Paul Ferris has appeared in court to admit further crimes, including displaying “ninja-style moves” in a charity shop and challenging a worker to a fight.
On another occasion Paul Reid, 45, refused to get off a bus at Dunfermline bus station when drunk and approached members of the public while in possession of a BB gun.
He also pled guilty to making a threat of violence towards a staff member in a Lochgelly Co-op store.
Reid, who appeared in court from custody, is already serving a 10-month sentence for various other offences.
These include telling two women waiting for a taxi in Cowdenbeath he was notorious mobster-turned-author Ferris and had just been released from prison after nine years.
Reid claimed to the strangers he had been behind bars for shooting someone in the head.
Ninja-style
Appearing back in the dock this week, Reid pled guilty to three other charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf told Dunfermline Sheriff Court that on October 30 2021 Reid was told to leave Chest Heart & Stroke in Dunfermline’s East Port due to his behaviour.
The fiscal depute said: “At that point he turns to (a worker) and shouts ‘I am going to slit your throat’ and starts to display what is described in a police report as ‘ninja-style moves’ and takes up a fighting stance at that stage.
“Shortly thereafter he leaves the shop and staff contact the police”.
Reid pled guilty to acting in an aggressive manner, shouting and threatening the employee with violence, adopting an aggressive stance and challenging her to a fight.
Bus evacuation
The fiscal depute said on another occasion in January 2021 Reid, formerly of Lochgelly’s South Street, was intoxicated on a bus at Dunfermline bus station and refused to leave when asked by the driver.
Ms Yousaf said a decision was made to transfer the other 10-to-12 passengers onto another bus as a result.
“Staggering” Reid followed and a supervisor was approached by a passenger saying they thought they saw him “cocking a gun but was not sure”.
Reid passed a 15-year-old and told her “I am not going to hurt you”, before she told him to stay away.
The child then saw him approach other members of the public and drop “what appeared to be a gun” to the ground.
It was a BB gun and handed in to staff.
Co-op threat
The fiscal depute said on January 31 this year Reid entered a Co-op in Lochgelly’s Bank Street on numerous occasions and was asked to leave by a staff member.
Ms Yousaf said Reid told her “I am going to break your neck”.
She contacted her superior and police were called.
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said his client had a fairly lengthy criminal record but mainly for nuisance matters.
The solicitor said Reid suffers from a long-term alcohol problem, worsened after he was became the victim of a serious assault – leading to a PTSD diagnosis – for which the perpetrator was locked up for four and a half years.
He said his client has a “vague recollection” he bought the BB gun from someone in town to “shoot cans in a field” but does not remember much from the bus station.
The lawyer stressed the item, silver and blue in colour, did not appear to be anything other than a BB gun.
Mr Flett said: “He accepts he should not have had it.
“Clearly he was extremely intoxicated”.
Sentencing
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis jailed Reid for 12 months, a sentence which will run consecutively to his present 10-month term.
The sheriff told Reid: “Your behaviour can not continue in this way, no matter what your problems are.
“Members of the public do not have to put up with your behaviour and until you get that through your head, then as far as I am concerned, custody will be visited upon you.
“You have problems, I accept that, but that does not give you a carte blanche to behave in the way you do”.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
