A country and western fan whose loud music has made his neighbour’s life a misery has been warned he is in last chance saloon.
A sheriff told Michael O’Rourke he would be facing a lengthy jail sentence if the “oldest raver in town” did not clean up his act.
The 55-year-old Dolly Parton fan’s antisocial behaviour was also compared to that of a teenager and he was warned the system was “running out of ways to deal with him”.
Partially-deaf O’Rourke was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work for blasting music from his home at 7 Gadle Braes in Peterhead.
The town’s sheriff court heard that when police officers went to his property on October 15, they found him slumped drunk in a chair.
It was the latest in a string of similar offences committed by O’Rourke – who was once banned from a bingo hall for shouting “house” loudly.
The court was told he hoped to eventually move to a new home to put an end to years of friction between him and one of his neighbours.
His agent, solicitor John Adam, said: “There is only one neighbour who complains – there is a real neighbour problem here.”
Mr Adam added that his client’s issues with alcohol – which has played a recurring role in his offending – may be a “problem in the background”.
But Sheriff Andrew Miller told O’Rourke that it was time for him to take responsibility for his actions.
“It’s surprising a man of your maturity would behave in this way,” he said.
“You’re a man of 55 and you’ve appeared in court repeatedly over the last few years for what normally involves teenagers.
“You have to find a way to stop this situation from happening again. You will have to find the solution. It must tell you something, Mr O’Rourke, that when the police came they couldn’t wake you up. You were lying drunk.”
Sheriff Miller stopped short of sending O’Rourke to prison, describing it as a “very expensive way” for society to deal with him, but warned the music lover that he had run out of chances.
He said: “You don’t really have any other chances left. I’m serious about this.”
The sheriff added that if O’Rourke failed to complete the unpaid work and comply with a two-year supervision order, he would need to re-examine how to deal with the man once described as “the oldest raver in town”.
Last year, O’Rourke was given a 50-hour unpaid work order for blaring country music from a CD player despite a court order forbidding him from doing so.
His record player had earlier been confiscated after complaints from neighbours.
The court heard that O’Rourke sat at home regularly drinking and listening to music following the deaths of his mother, father and uncle – all within a matter of months.
Previous attempts to put an end to problems caused by his loud music have included one sheriff suggesting that a mark be put on his stereo volume control to prevent him from becoming a nuisance to others, and wearing headphones so that only he could hear his tunes.
