The 82-year-old founder of a Perthshire pipe band racially abused a family after going to retrieve equipment from their home.
Thomas McDonald was found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and making racial comments at an address in Rattray on May 16 last year a charge he had denied.
McDonald, who is the secretary of Blairgowrie and Rattray Pipe Band, which he set up in 1970, used the term “gypo” towards the family, who are members of the Travelling community, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
McDonald said he could not have used the offensive term as he had never heard it before, though his wife was familiar with it as she is a fan of the Channel 4 show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
He said he had gone to the house to retrieve a £4 drum pad belonging to the band after a child in the family had stopped attending practice sessions.
He said he had passed comment on the state of the property’s garden, causing the girl’s mother to take exception.
He added that he wished he had not gone to retrieve the item.
“For a £4 drum pad it’s cost police time, it’s cost court time and it’s cost my time,” he said. “I should have left it.”
Sheriff Michael Fletcher fined McDonald, of Golf Course Road, Blairgowrie, £200.