A MAN has appeared in court accused of threatening to carry out a firearms massacre in Dunblane.

Thomas Robertson is alleged to have made the remark during an exchange in the health centre of the Perthshire town, where Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 children and their teacher, before killing himself, at the primary school in 1996.

Mr Robertson, 48, of Dunblane, is also alleged to have said he planned to torch, stab, and kill police.

He pled not guilty at a pre-trial hearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court yesterday to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, likely to cause a reasonable person fear and alarm. His trial is due next month.