A would-be thief caught lurking in a Forfar family’s garden was brought to the ground by a “perfect rugby tackle” from a 14-year-old boy.
Serial offender Kevin Paton made threats to return and break the homeowner’s legs after he was rumbled trying to get through a locked gate.
Drunk on “two or three cans of Dragon Soop”, Paton stood in the man’s driveway and argued there were no laws against trespassing in Scotland.
At his trial, the 46-year-old tried to persuade a sheriff he he been chased down by a “vigilante mob” who kicked and stomped on him as he lay on the road.
But prosecutor Stuart Hamilton argued that the homeowner, his teenage son and their neighbour were trying to make a “lawful arrest” after seeing Paton at their home for a second time that evening.
He said: “Had they been some sort of posse, they wouldn’t have phoned the police first.”
Raider was mistaken for cat
The homeowner told Forfar Sheriff Court he had gone out to his car at his Dundee Road property at about 8pm on July 31 this year.
“I heard a scuttling noise behind the gate,” he said.
“At first I thought it was our cat trying to get over.
“But then I saw the baseball cap.”
The man opened the gate and came face-to-face with Paton.
“He appeared to be drunk or on drugs,” the witness said.
Paton told him he was looking for a friend.
He added that there were no trespass laws in Scotland.
The man told the trial he punched Paton in self defence, after he pushed him to the chest and tried to headbutt him.
However, allegations that Paton assaulted the man were found not proven.
Threatened to wait for him in his garden
The man later saw Paton coming out of a nearby shop with more cans of Dragon Soop.
Paton told him: “I know you have a big garden.
“I swear on my son’s life I will break your legs.
“You won’t see me coming.
“Some night you are going to go out there and I’m going to be waiting and I’m going to get you.”
At around 10.30pm, the man saw Paton again, coming out of his front garden.
He asked his wife to phone police while he, his teenage son and their neighbour gave chase.
The man told him: “Give up, you’re going to jail.”
He said: “My son is into rugby and he took him down with the perfect rugby tackle.”
The trio formed a circle around Paton to prevent him from escaping until police arrived.
The court heard that the schoolboy mocked Paton for being taken down by a 14-year-old.
‘Chased down by vigilante group’
Paton, of Poets Place, Brechin, told his trial he had been at the house looking for his friend Terry who lived a few streets away.
He claimed that he was attacked by a “mad man”, but denied assaulting him.
He accepted he shouted abuse outside the shop, but insisted “they were empty threats.”
And he claimed he never went back into the man’s garden.
“I was only walking past, before I had this vigilante group chasing me down the road,” he said.
Paton claimed he was attacked as he lay on the road, but a police officer told the court he had no visible injuries at the time of his arrest.
Sheriff Mungo Bovey said: “It would be quite extraordinary to have been attacked by a ‘mad man’ and then go back to his house.”
The sheriff found Paton guilty of being at the Dundee Road house with intent to steal.
Paton pled guilty to threatening or abusive behaviour.
Solicitor Anika Jethwa, defending, said: “Mr Paton has an absolutely dreadful record and has been in out of custody like a yo yo all of his life.
“He does appreciate that his lordship will be minded to send him to prison.”
Sheriff Bovey deferred sentence for background reports and remanded Paton in custody.
“I want some reassurance that I can put the householders of the town at some degree of safety,” he said.
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