A DIEHARD country music fan has been silenced after having his record player seized by a court.
Michael O'Rourke, 55, ignored police warnings about annoying his neighbours by blasting his favourite country and western tunes. He also lashed out when officers visited his Peterhead home at the weekend.
O'Rourke, who is partially deaf, likes to listen to artists such as Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, but the music has been driving local residents to distraction.
The 55-year-old was given a three-year anti-social behaviour order in 2009 after complaints from local residents landed him in court.
This week a sheriff decided it was time to take his stereo and record player away because previous punishments had not worked. Officers visited his property at Gadles Braes at 9am on Saturday to speak to him about the noise levels, responding to complaints about music blaring from his home. They arrived to find him drinking alcohol with a friend. He swore at the police and said he was going to sort them out.
When he appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court on Monday he admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner.
Solicitor Stuart Flowerdew said his client often sat at home drinking and listening to music following the recent deaths of his mother, father and uncle who had passed away within a matter of months of each other. He accepted his client had a lengthy criminal record. He told the court: "But these offences are related to public nuisance rather than public harm."
Sheriff Alison Stirling ordered O'Rourke to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work as part of a six-month community payback order.
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