TWO pensioners threatened staff and destroyed property during a late-night naked rampage at a luxury resort hotel.
Staff at the hotel were so scared by the couple they fled and ran two miles on foot to the safety of the nearest village.
Retired chartered surveyor Robert Fergus, 72, was naked as he ran amok with a pair of scissors in the reception of the MacDonald Loch Rannoch Hotel.
His 69-year-old wife Ruth was sporting just her nightgown when she threatened to gun down staff members.
Mr Fergus, a school charity fundraiser and rugby club committee member, picked up a restaurant sign and smashed a window pane with it. He then used the scissors to slash communications cables at the reception and was eventually caught drunk at the wheel of his £65,000 pounds BMW.
At Perth Sheriff Court Mr Fergus was fined a total of £2,750 and ordered to pay the hotel £800 compensation to cover the cost of the damage he caused on February 4 this year.
He admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner with a pair of scissors, while shouting, swearing and threatening violence towards staff. He also admitted wilfully destroying property.
He was banned from driving for a year for being around twice the legal limit as he and his wife fled from the hotel.
Mrs Fergus, who was not present in court yesterday, was fined £1,350 for causing fear or alarm at the hotel by threatening guests and staff with violence.
Solicitor Ewan Cameron, for Mr Fergus, said: “He is a 72-year-old man with no previous convictions and this appears hugely uncharacteristic on his part.
“He consumed much more alcohol than was sensible. He retired to bed but was roused by his wife who said she had been on the receiving end of hostility from hotel staff.
“He reacted disproportionately by going to reception to confront them. His memory is somewhat hazy. He was responsible, in a fit of pique, for vandalising the property."
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, for Mrs Fergus, said her client had a hiatus hernia and had reacted badly to alcohol because she had eaten little during the day.
Sheriff Gillian Wade said: “I don’t think I need to tell you it’s a very sorry state of affairs. It gives me no pleasure to see a man of your age, history and record of employment in the dock.
“I have no doubt you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
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