A TRANENT man has appeared in court from custody to plead guilty to behaving aggressively towards a woman during a bus journey.

Christopher Storrie was arrested last week and appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday.

He had the case against him continued without plea and he spent the weekend in police custody on remand.

Storrie, of Civic Square, returned to the court on Monday, where he lodged a guilty plea to an amended charge of shouting and acting in an aggressive manner towards his neighbour Kerry Anne Holland.

The court was told that 42-year-old Storrie and Ms Holland were on board the top deck of a bus travelling between Fort Kinnaird and Musselburgh when he became abusive.

Storrie was overheard by witnesses calling the woman “a thief” and “a paedophile” before she was forced to move away from him and sit at the back of the vehicle on January 25.

The accused then followed her to the back and was seen putting his arms around her and preventing her from moving away.

The witnesses heard Storrie tell the woman that they were getting off the bus but she refused to go with him.

'Struggling with substance misuse'

The pair eventually left the bus at the same time at North High Street in Musselburgh and the two witnesses said they saw Storrie follow Ms Holland and decided to report him to police.

Officers later traced Storrie following the incident last Thursday and, after being arrested, he made no reply to being cautioned and charged.

He was remanded in custody when he appeared at court on Friday and pleaded guilty to the amended charge on Monday.

Solicitor Angela Craig, representing Storrie, said that her client had become involved in “a situation” with Ms Holland, who is an upstairs neighbour.

She said that Storrie was sentenced on a separate matter involving the same complainer earlier this month and was currently under supervision, carrying out unpaid work and on a home curfew in relation to that matter.

Ms Craig told the court: “He is a man who has been struggling with substance misuse.”

Sheriff Roderick Flinn said that he was willing to grant Storrie bail but with “the greatest hesitation” and ordered him to stay away from Ms Holland and her home address until he was sentenced.

Sentence was deferred to March 6.

Storrie admitted to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting and making offensive remarks to Ms Holland, following her, seizing hold of her and preventing her from moving away while on a bus journey on January 25.