There are certain things one does not expect to come across in a smart lochside hotel in the Scottish Highlands, and a couple of pensioners running amok with a pair of scissors is one of them.

After his wife complained that staff had been hostile to her 72-year-old Robert Fergus ran entirely naked through the MacDonald Loch Rannoch Hotel, in Perthshire, on a drunken "out-of-control" rampage.

Staff and guests were forced to flee in the early hours as Mr Fergus smashed a glass pane and used the scissors to cut communications cables, before warning witnesses he would "slit" and "kill" them.

His wife Ruth, 69, also threatened to "get a gun and shoot" a staff member after "reacting badly" to alcohol she had drunk without having eaten much food, Perth Sheriff Court heard.

The court heard that Mr Fergus appeared in the hotel reception without any clothes and began shouting abuse at staff and guests during the incident, on February 4.

Fiscal Depute Michael Sweeney said: “Both accused were acting as if they were out of control, He was observed to have a pair of scissors. Mrs Fergus said: 'I'm going to get a gun and shoot you'."

Ewan Cameron, representing Mr Fergus, admitted his client had reacted "disproportionately" when he confronted hotel workers after being woken by his wife, who claimed to have been on the receiving end of "hostility" from staff.