Kilmarnock man had knife in street

Nov 6 2009

A MAN who had a knife in his pocket as he conducted a drink-fuelled argument in a Kilmarnock street has been jailed for six months.

Richard Gilmour, 42, of Onthank Drive, Kilmarnock, admitted having a knife, in the same street on October 29, as well as shouting and swearing.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard that police patrolling the area around 6.55pm saw Gilmour involved in “an altercation” with another person.

Said Stewart McMillan, prosecuting; “Police approached him and he was heard to shout an obscenity.

“He was asked to calm down, but continued to shout and swear.”

When he was searched, he was found to have a kitchen knife with a three-inch blade in his rear trouser pocket.

Told he was being arrested, Gilmour threatened officers that he would “kill you all”.

Neil McPherson, defending, said that his client’s behaviour represented “a break in tradition, by his own standards”.

He pointed out that Gilmour’s last conviction involving violence was in 1996 and, before that, in 1990.

Mr McPherson said that Gilmour had started singing in the street after drinking two bottles of wine.

“There were several complaints until, eventually, they were made a bit more forcefully,” said Mr McPherson.

“He can’t really give an explanation as to how this kitchen knife came to be in his back pocket, other than that it had been there for some time,” he said.

There was no suggestion, he said, that Gilmour had produced or threatened to use the knife.

Jailing Gilmour, Sheriff Alistair Watson told him: “The difference between somebody having a knife in their pocket and someone lying on the ground in a pool of blood is sometimes a matter of chance.

“You have a history of violence which makes me even more concerned.”