A wild camper who allowed a dog off the lead on farmland and said he would shoot the farmer’s husband when challenged has admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Stephen Burnside, 40, was confronted by the farmer after a member of the public spotted a fire burning on the land at Achnabat south of Inverness.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told the woman found Burnside and others wild camping on her land and challenged them over their behaviour.
Burnside was later asked for the dog to be put on a lead as there was livestock nearby.
‘I will shoot your husband’
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court: “It seems Mr Burnside took some exception to being challenged to his presence within the farm, he began shouting and swearing.”
At one point Burnside told the woman: “I have a shotgun too and I will shoot your husband.”
Police were called and Burnside was subsequently arrested after a short struggle.
Solicitor John MacColl, appearing for Burnside, who did not attend the hearing, told the court that his client’s remarks had been made in response to the farmer’s assertion that her husband would be “entitled to shoot them.”
He added that his client “didn’t have a shotgun”.
Burnside, of Esk Road, Inverness entered a plea of guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on July 18 last year.
Deferring sentence for reports and to allow Burnside to appear, Sheriff Robert Frazer said: “We ought to have the accused here.”
