Court / Man who made threats over phone fined

AN ELDERLY man who lost his temper and swore and threatened an EE call centre worker has been fined.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard today (Wednesday) that Scalloway resident Edward White threatened to shoot people and “swore profusely” at a female call handler when he became enraged at the delay in supplying him with a new phone.

White, 77, admitted the offence which took place on 9 September.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said that White’s outburst was “grossly disproportionate” and no one should have to contend with that sort of behaviour or language in the course of their work.

Nor did White’s attitude improve when questioned by police who repeated his threats back to him.

On being told what he had uttered, he said: “Cheeky bastard, I will punch his fucking head in.” When the police asked if he had anything else to add, he said: “I am fucking sick of this”.

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Defence agent Tommy Allan said that White had difficulty reading and writing and relied heavily on his phone, which he had been without for three weeks, for social contact.

White, he said, had uttered threats he did not mean and had no practical means of carrying them out. The case had caused him a great deal of concern.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said it was a “wholly inappropriate” way to deal with frustrations and had no doubt been very concerning to the individual involved.

He fined White £500.