AN INVERKEITHING man threatened to go home and stab his wife, in a text message sent to her from a pub.

Thomas Higgins started making threats after being told that his marriage was definitely over.

Higgins, 67, formerly of Hope Street but now living in Union Street, Largs, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing.

He previously admitted that on February 1, at the Half Crown pub, High Street, Inverkeithing, he sent text messages to his wife that were grossly offensive and that he acted aggressively, making threats against her.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said Higgins had been drinking in the Half Crown when he started sending text messages to his estranged wife.

He was asking for them to give their marriage a second chance. She replied that he already knew the answer to that.

He then sent a message saying: “You’re a cow. I can come home and stab you. F****** hate you. Hope you die tonight, cow.”

He then sent another message saying: “Lock the door” followed by another: “Only joking”.

The depute went on: “She was frightened by the messages and phoned her daughter.

“The accused then arrived at the house. He shouted: ‘I hope you’re happy now, you have everything. You’ve stabbed me in the back and you’re nothing but a f****** cow’.”

Defence solicitor Brian Black said the couple had since separated “amicably” with divorce proceedings now under way and that his client had now moved out of the area.

Sentence had been deferred on Higgins in February for him to be of good behaviour and he had complied with this.

Sheriff Alastair Brown admonished Higgins and decided not to impose a non-harassment order. He commented: “He was clearly reacting out of distress over the end of his marriage.”