A BANKING manager has been ordered to do unpaid work in the community after he “lost the plot” in a row with his wife over a new garden fence.

Patrick Atkins, 45, of The Beeches, Dalgety Bay, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court as a result of his “alarming” behaviour.

He admitted that between June 22 and 23 at Lade Braes, Dalgety Bay, he shouted, swore, broke a mirror and television by throwing them on the floor and threatened to break a laptop, all in the presence of his wife and two children.

Depute fiscal Mat Piskorz said Atkins had started shouting and swearing at his wife after entering their bedroom where she was putting on make-up at a mirror.

He appeared to be angry about a garden fence which had been put up in their garden.

Atkins picked up the mirror, threw it on the floor, causing it to smash then did the same with a television set.

Their son was nearby and had to jump out of the way of the TV when it was thrown.

The woman contacted her father who quickly arrived at the house, which initially resulted in Atkins calming down and he locked himself in his home office for the rest of the day.

However, at around 4.30am Mrs Atkins heard him moving about the house. She went to speak to him, saying he could sleep in their bed instead of on the sofa where he had been lying.

He began to shout at her again saying, “F*** off” and that she had ruined his life. She went back to the bedroom and he followed, continuing to shout about the fence and causing their son to wake up.

Atkins was shouting about suing her father over the garden fence. She began to film his behaviour on her phone.

Atkins then picked up her work laptop and motioned to throw it on the ground and smash it.

She begged for him to stop and went into her daughter’s room where she phoned the police.

Defence solicitor Russel McPhate said his client works as a product control manager for a bank’s trading desk and has been married for 26 years.

He said it was a stressful job and his client had also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018.

The solicitor added: “Over a fairly trivial matter he lost the plot. At first, he locked himself in his room, didn’t deal with it and things simmered.”

Sheriff Charles Macnair said: “This was alarming behaviour over a period of two days which took place in front of your children.”

He imposed a community payback order with 101 hours of unpaid work and a 12 months non-harassment order