A RESIDENT who made threats to his neighbours while in possession of a knife has been placed under the supervision of his local social work team.

Peter Renton made the threatening comments to nearby homeowners after they had spotted him causing a commotion in the communal rear garden of flats at Forth Street, North Berwick.

Renton was seen throwing a fire pit around the garden area and, when challenged about his behaviour, he launched a volley of abuse at the witnesses, a court heard.

The 51-year-old told the three men, “Youse are getting it” and “Wait till I see youse” during the incident, which took place between 3pm and 4pm on July 15 last year.

The witnesses then saw Renton in the rear garden carrying the large kitchen knife later that afternoon and, when confronted about his behaviour, he again made threatening comments towards them.

The concerned residents called the police and officers subsequently traced Renton and he was arrested and charged.

He appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month to plead guilty to the offences and sentence had been deferred to last week for background reports to be prepared.

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Renton was back in the dock on Monday, where Sheriff Derek O’Carroll noted that the social work report recommended not fining the offender, who was said to spend a large amount of his income on alcohol.

But the sheriff did not follow that recommendation and, as well as placing Renton on a 12-month supervision order, he sentenced him to pay a fine of £520 to mark the offence.

Previously, the court heard from Renton’s lawyer Mary Moultrie, who said that the knife incident took place after “the group of males had taken issue with him and had shouted at him from their window”.

Ms Moultrie said that her client suffered from “underlying drug and alcohol issues” and the court was told that Renton was currently subject to a restriction of liberty order where he had to wear an electronic tag and stay within his home between 8pm and 7am each night.

Sheriff O’Carroll also noted at the time that Renton had “a large number of previous convictions” for behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and for knife possession.