A man who threatened to shoot and kill his neighbours after they reported him to police has been placed on an electronic tag.

Barry James McGinlay, 46, behaved in a threatening or abusive manner and was found to be in possession of an air weapon at his home in Dalry.

McGinlay, who has since been staying in Darly’s Badland Drive, had previously pled guilty to two charges at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court. He returned to the court last week for sentencing following reports.

The court heard that McGinlay and his downstairs neighbours had been involved in an ongoing feud. At the time of the offence they were seeking an ASBO against him and that process was causing further tension.

In the early hours of the morning on May 29 the couple heard shouting and swearing coming from McGinlay’s home. They contacted police, who attended and warned him about his behaviour. McGinlay was aware that it was his neighbours who had called police and when officers left, he began to verbally abuse the couple. This continued until 7am. The couple called police again and they attended for a second time at 7.30am.

Some 20 minutes after they left the couple heard the accused shout: “I’ll kill you all, I have a gun.” This caused a further call to police and once again officers attended. Police asked McGinlay about the firearm he had mentioned and he said they could look around his house. A search recovered an air rifle behind a chest of drawers. The weapon was seized. McGinlay was not cautioned and charged as he was under the influence of alcohol.

Defending McGinlay, solicitor Paul Gallagher asked Sheriff Michael Hanlon to allow his client to return to his previous home.

Mr Gallagher said: “He has accepted that he has been out of his property for many months now. His health has deteriorated and his mobility and he’s desperate to remain in the property.

“He’s more than happy for the item [the air gun]to be taken away and destroyed if needs be. He’ll sign any paperwork allowing that to happen.”

Sheriff Hanlon put McGinlay on a Restriction of Liberty Order for three months, reduced from four, due to his guilty plea, and fined him £300.

He warned McGinlay: “Be under no illusions. The offence of you threatening to shoot someone is taken very seriously by the court. No doubt if there’s any more anti-social behaviour, I might not hear about it but the police will hear about it. The responsibility is on you.”