A resident was threatened near his countryside home in west Fife by a cursing building boss, a court has heard.
Barry Hatton, supervisor at a controversial building site opposed by locals, marched up to Brian Machray for an early morning confrontation.
Hatton was waving his arms about and making threats while holding a tool.
Mr Machray, a top banker who had just taken his child to school, was threatened, called a “w***er” and told “You’ll get yours”.
The court heard the background was bad blood between developers and local residents in the village of Pattiesmuir, near Rosyth, over new houses being built there.
The incident was captured on CCTV and shown at Hatton’s trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Hatton, of Balderran Drive, Cardenden, denied that on March 26 at Hilton Road, he approached Mr Machray in an aggressive manner, repeatedly shouted, swore, made derogatory remarks and threats of violence, while in possession of a fence key.
Disputed road
Mr Machray told the court he had just returned from taking his daughter to school when the incident occurred at around 8am.
He had stopped to move a traffic cone used by the residents to mark boundaries on a road which is “in dispute”, he said.
Mr Machray described Hatton’s outburst as “a tirade of profanity”.
He said: “There was a lot of f-ing and c-ing, with general threats like ‘You’ll get yours’.
“He was trying to exert his authority on the village.
“It was quite upsetting. He came towards me with something in his hand, some sort of tool – a wrench or something like that.
“He was right up in my face, saying he’s going to punching my f-ing pus, destroy me, etcetera.
“I just said I didn’t want any trouble. He tried to shepherd me behind a hedge out of sight of the CCTV.”
He said Hatton also called him a “w***er” during the incident.
Defence
In his evidence, Hatton said he works as a supervisor for Fife firm RG Construction, adding: “I basically run the jobs.”
On the day of the incident, he was opening up the Pattiesmuir site.
“That Brian stopped his car and was staring at me,” he said.
“I asked what he was looking at and he said, ’I’m looking at you, ya wee p****. I live here’.
“I said that we had to work there. He was goading me.
“I wasn’t really being aggressive. I was just a bit agitated.
“He was saying he was going to come to my door and cause trouble.”
‘I was just sticking up for myself’
Under cross-examination, Hatton was shown the CCTV of him walking towards Mr Machray and waving his arms about.
He said, “I was just sticking up for myself.”
“He’s got you wound up,” suggested depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf.
He replied: “Yes, I was showing a bit of aggression but nothing severe.”
Sheriff Wylie Robertson found Hatton guilty and fined him £520.
Mr Machray is Scottish regional director for the finance group Reward Funding and previously worked for the Allied Irish Bank.
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