A Paisley thug has avoided jail after threatening to “chop up” his neighbour’s dog.
Bully Craig Tuthill had spent the night drinking Buckfast on August 3 last year when he threatened his female neighbour that he would “chop up” her dog if it continued to use his garden to do the toilet.
The drunken 37-year-old caused Orchy Crescent neighbours so much stress and alarm that they dialled 999 after he went off on a rampage and began banging doors and walls.
Once arrested by cops, the part-time Tesco worker then began shouting abuse at cops, calling them “p**fy b******s.”
Procurator fiscal depute Craig Morrison yesterday told Paisley Sheriff Court: “Around 10pm on August 3, Ms Edwards was within her home address when she became aware of a male voice.
“She looked out her window and the accused was standing in the garden outside and appeared to be looking at her.
“The accused shouted, ‘open the window’. Ms Edwards opened the window and Tuthill shouted, ‘Your f*****g dog is s******g in my garden’. He continued to shout and swear and Edwards closed the window.
“The accused then shouted, ‘next time your dog s***s in my garden, I’m going to chop it up. Does anyone want to buy a dead dog’. Two neighbours could hear the accused shouting about the dog and the accused continued to shout and swear.
“He was repeatedly shouting at Edwards to open the window and repeatedly pressed her buzzer button resulting in her putting it on privacy mode to disable the sound.”
The court was told Ms Edwards then heard “loud thuds” as the boozed-up thug struck the main door at the flats while shouting and swearing.
Mr Morrison explained Tuthill entered the common close and chapped the door of a property, causing the owners stress. He added: “The accused continued to shout and was striking the walls of the common close.
“Around 10.36pm, police received an anonymous 999 call from a member of the public who reported the incident.
“Officers attended and entered the property and the accused raised his hands and adopted an aggressive stance while holding a bottle of Buckfast in his hand.
“Officers requested he put the bottle down and he refused which resulted in him being placed in handcuffs, arrested and taken to Greenock police station.
“While in the van en route to the station he continued to shout and swear at officers stating, ‘f*****g orange b******s’ and ‘f**k you ya p**fy b*****d’. He was processed in the usual manner and held in custody to appear in this court the following day.”
Defence agent Mr Cruickshank explained this incident was as a result of “anger and grief”.
He said: “This was around the time of the first anniversary of his mother’s sudden death. This had a great impact on him and alcohol had been consumed – that’s not an excuse but an explanation.
“There had been an ongoing neighbour dispute about a dog defecating in his garden and he accepts that this was anger and grief and accepts that his behaviour was totally wrong and unacceptable.”
Sentencing, Sheriff Brian Mohan said: “This offending does cross the custody threshold. The common theme is you, drink and your temper.
“You just let yourself get carried away when you get the Buckfast in you. If you want to go to jail, you’re going the right way about it.
“I will impose an alternative to custody today but it’s in your hands for you stay out of jail. Because of the concerns, I’ll also fix a review hearing in four months to see if you’ve been behaving yourself and complying with the order.”
Sheriff Mohan ordered Tuthill to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work in the community.
In addition, Tuthill was placed under supervision of the social work department for 12 months and ordered to undertake alcohol treatment. A review hearing was assigned for June 2.
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