A Moray man has admitted making threatening calls to the police – during which he called one officer a “numpty” seven times.
Buckie resident Ian Stobo goaded officers to go “face to face” with him and asked whether they wanted to “kick off” during the series of threatening calls in August.
Police were forced to hang up numerous times on the 43-year-old as he refused to listen, while he shouted and swore at them after dialling the non-emergency line.
In Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday, fiscal Geoff Main said: “The accused contacted the police a number of times on August 9. A supervisor dealt with him during the calls and he became increasingly aggressive.
“One call lasted over seven minutes. On that occasion, he referred to the officer as a numpty on seven occasions and as a hard man on six occasions.”
After being detained and released on bail following the initial call, he again made threatening calls to the call centre a week later on August 16.
During the fraught exchanges which followed, on that occasion he made racist remarks to the call centre worker.
Mr Main added: “Police received a call from a withheld number, which started ‘Your little English pig from Buckie better keep out of my road or I will be out to get him.”
The caller refused to give his name when asked, but was recognised by police from earlier calls to the call centre as Stobo.
Mr Main told Sheriff Chris Dickson he was unaware as to whether the Buckie resident was referring to a specific police officer in the town.
Defence solicitor Stephen Carty explained that his client struggled to deal with confrontation and believes he could benefit from anger management classes.
Stobo, of Netherha Road in Buckie, was remanded in custody for background reports to be prepared after admitting making the phone calls that were of an indecent, menacing or offensive nature and will appear in court again on September 29 for sentencing.
