Fundraising bid ex-sailor in ice axe threat

AN ex-serviceman set to row 7000 miles from Edinburgh to Pakistan to raise money for charity has pleaded guilty to making threats with an ice axe at a Canongate veterans' home.

Nikki "Buster" Brown plans to embark on the epic trip by canoe from Port Edgar in South Queensferry to the shores of Pakistan in April.

The money raised will be used to provide aid to flood victims in Pakistan, as well as veterans' organisations such as Combat Stress, and appeals have been made for potential sponsors to provide equipment for the journey.

But at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, the 31-year-old, of Craigleith Hill in Craigleith, admitted charges of conducting himself in a disorderly manner, shouting, swearing, threatening violence with an ice axe, threatening to kill himself, and committing a breach of the peace.

The incident took place on September 15, at Whitefoord House on the Royal Mile. This is a facility run by the Scottish Veterans' Residences, a charity formed to help ex-service personnel adapt to civilian life.

Sentence was deferred on Brown, who was in the Royal Navy for four years until 2004 and served in the Arabian Gulf and Afghanistan, until February 4.