Potato peeler thug faces unpaid work

Supervision and unpaid work was the punishment for a man who uttered threats of violence while holding a potato peeler.

Roy Richardson (45) caused an alarming disturbance at his former partner’s house on Bannockburn’s Station Road on June 14.

He admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, refusing to leave the property when requested to do so and stripping off his clothes and jumping into bed.

The resident of Engelen Drive, Alloa, also made threats while holding a blade.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard last month how at around 10.40pm on the evening in question Richardson showed up at the woman’s house despite the relationship ending some days earlier.

The accused was said to be drunk when he staggered into her bathroom and told her wanted to talk about why she had blocked him on Facebook – as she was in the bath.

She asked him to leave but he refused. He then got undressed and said he was staying the night. Police were contacted when he appeared with a vegetable peeler in his hand, giving the victim a fright.

When police arrived Richardson was fully dressed and no longer in possession of the knife.

Sheriff Pino di Emidio this week imposed a community payback order on Richardson as a direct alternative to custody.

He was placed under supervision for one year and ordered to undertake 80 hours of unpaid work in the next six months.