AN ARGUMENT between a Dunbar man and his partner over him messaging another woman has ended up with the man appearing in court.

Scott Mason became involved in a heated row with his partner after she checked his phone at an address in Edinburgh last year.

The pair became embroiled in a shouting match and the 32-year-old labourer was asked to leave the woman’s home.

Mason, of Wilson Drive, refused to leave the premises and both parties were said to have threatened to damage each other’s vehicles.

The woman was eventually forced to phone the police and Mason was arrested and charged with the domestic-related incident.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that Mason had been staying at the woman’s Capital home when he was said to have told her he would “smash up” her car.

The fiscal depute said that there was “ongoing shouting and swearing” during the incident but the court was told that the woman did not want a non-harassment order put in place.

Lawyer Steven Donald said that his client had been in an on-off relationship with the woman but the couple had now split permanently.

Mr Donald said that the bust-up took place after the woman “had checked his messages on his phone” and that “he had sent messages to another girl”.

The solicitor claimed that the woman had made the first threat to damage his vehicle and he had retaliated by saying the same thing back to her.

Mr Donald added that the incident had been “a watershed moment” for him and, despite currently being unemployed, he was “confident of obtaining employment” very soon.

Sheriff Grant McCulloch told Mason: “You know this should not have happened.”

Mason was fined a total of £270.

Mason pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and uttering threatening remarks to the woman and refusing to leave her property in Edinburgh on November 22 last year.