Inverness Sheriff Court hears a man threatened to "burn out" his wife’s home and left a fuel can outside her chalet
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A man sent texts to his daughter telling her a third party was "going to burn your mam out" nearly a decade after separating from his wife.
David Foster had previously admitted at Inverness Sheriff Court to behaving in an abusive and threatening manner.
At an earlier hearing depute fiscal Niall Macdonald said Foster, of Nessview, Lairgmore Croft, Lochend, and his wife separated in 2009 but lived in close proximity due to the sharing of domestic assets.
“On July 12 he sent a number of texts to his daughter making a reference to a third party who was ‘going to burn your mam out’, adding ‘there will be flames at your mam’s’,” he said.
The fiscal said Foster (55) also sent a further text that read: “You’d better watch for flames at your mam’s.”
The court also heard that on August 24 Foster’s wife saw him in a vehicle which had stopped outside her chalet.
After he drove away she found a green fuel can outside the property.
The police were then contacted.
When he was interviewed, Foster told officers he was intoxicated at the time, saying: “You just get annoyed. You know sometimes when you get drunk it gets worse.”
Solicitor Marc Dickson said Foster began drinking heavily following the death of his 18-year-old son in a car crash and suffered poor mental health.
He confirmed Foster had been intoxicated when he left the fuel can outside the chalet.
He said he accepted it had caused alarm but said he had not done it with the intention of causing difficulties.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson ordered Foster to carry out 200 hours unpaid work in the community and warned him that any repeat of his actions would see him sent to jail.
