A RENFREW man has been spared jail for shouting “f*** the Pope!” in a drunken rant in a portakabin at a building site.

John Charles Gordon was drunk on Buckfast tonic wine in the portakabin in Espedair Street, Paisley.

Police were called to reports of a disturbance and, when they arrived, could hear Gordon shouting inside the portakabin from the street.

READ MORE: Man to stand trial accused of killing Paisley dad and chopping up his body

They managed to locate him and found him decked out in high-vis clothing 
bawling at the top of his lungs.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Claire Rowan told Paisley Sheriff Court the offence took place on August 22 this year.

The prosecutor explained to the court: “Officers looked through the fence and saw the accused.

“He was sitting in the office and they could hear the accused to be stamping his feet and he was shouting, ‘f*** the Pope’.

“On hearing this, the officers entered the portakabin and immediately detected a strong smell of alcohol.

“They noted a bottle of Buckfast and a can of Gordon’s gin and tonic within a black rucksack.

“They noticed a strong smell of alcohol from the accused and asked him to collect his belongings and he collected the black rucksack containing the alcohol.”

He was detained and cautioned and charged by officers at 8.25pm that day and his reply to the caution and charge was: “No, I never.”

Defence solicitor Tony Callahan said Gordon, of Ard Road, Renfrew, was so drunk he could not remember anything about the incident.

The lawyer told the court: “He has no recollection of this. He was extremely intoxicated.

“He has a serious alcohol problem.”

Sheriff Seith Ireland slammed Gordon for his conduct at Paisley Sheriff Court last week, but allowed him to go unpunished for the offence.

As he placed him on a Community Payback Order, which will see him supervised by social workers for nine months, as a direct alternative to a custodial sentence, the sheriff warned him: “You could well go to custody for this. Sectarian offences are something which are of particular concern to the public at large.

READ MORE: Police appeal after truckloads of booze stolen from Renfrewshire firm

“If you are not perfect in your compliance with the order, that will be reported to me and if you let me down and the social work department down it is simple – I will have to revoke the order and sentence you to custody.”

As there was no unpaid work imposed as part of Gordon’s Community Payback Order, there is no punishment element to it.