Drunken hot head threatened to blow up police officers' houses with Semtex

Police officers had their hands full with a drunken offender who threatened to blow them up.

John Forsyth (47) also attended a house fire at his father’s address and made a pest of himself as emergency services tried to deal with the incident.

Forsyth appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday having pled guilty to threatening behaviour in Bridge Place, Denny on March 21 and Grahams Road, Falkirk on March 17.

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Craig Wainwright, procurator fiscal depute, said: “It was 11pm and police were responding to calls of a male walking down the street causing a nuisance. They saw the accused standing in the middle of the road, he was shouting and swearing at members of the public.

“When he was challenged by officers he then threatened he was going to use Semtex and dynamite to blow up their houses.”

On another occasion police attended at the home of the accused’s father at 4pm following reports of an ongoing house fire.

Mr Wainwright said: “A cordon was set up to allow the fire service to carry out their duties. The accused arrived and wanted entry to the property to check on his father’s welfare.

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“He was told there was no one in and he could not enter at this stage. He became angry and shouted and swore at the officers and refused to move away from the scene, continuing to shout and swear.”

The court heard Forsyth, 14 Castings Avenue, Falkirk, had long standing problems with alcohol.

Sheriff Derek Livingston said: “The last thing the emergency services need is him creating a stooshie after he was told father wasn’t in the property.”

Forsyth was placed on a supervised community payback order for two years with the condition he complete 180 hours unpaid work within six months and engage with alcohol treatment. A review of the order was called for on June 15.