A man who admitted threatening to split his neighbour’s skull open with an axe has been admonished at Arbroath Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Peter Paterson told Allan James McLean that he had taken the opportunity to be of good behaviour, having previously deferred sentence for six months to see if the accused’s threats were “no more than bravado and stupidity on your part, which I suspect they were”.
McLean, 48, of Cairnie Loan, Arbroath, previously admitted that on January 13 he behaved in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear and alarm by threatening violence to his neighbour Craig McDougall.
A defence agent said his client had mental health issues and had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.
He added: “He has been of good behaviour since the unfortunate incident. He is not the sort of person who has normally come to the attention of the court.”
Mr McDougall and McLean were neighbours and there had been a history of disputes over loud music and singing.
On January 13 Mr McDougall heard singing and loud music from the flat below. He banged on the floor to try to get McLean to stop, to no avail.
Mr McDougall then found a note on his door that he believed to be written by his downstairs neighbour as he recognised the handwriting from a previous note.
It mentioned climbing the stairs and leaving his skull open with an axe. It added: “Believe this, I could put you out of my misery permanently.”
During police interview, McLean was asked what “put him out of my misery permanently” meant.
He replied: “I think that’s clear I meant kill him. I would probably be doing society a favour and what would I get? A few months in prison?”