A BEGGAR who was found sitting outside a bank with a luminous orange toy gun has avoided jail.

As reported in the Advertiser previously, former Sauchie man Scott Park (33) was handcuffed in the presence of three police officers after being found with the item outside the Royal Bank of Scotland in Stirling city centre.

In CCTV footage he was seen huddled on the steps of the bank, which was closed as it was a Sunday afternoon, while passers-by occasionally dropped coins in his plastic cup.

The authorities became involved after a 16-year-old girl saw the toy gun fall out of Park’s jacket.

Police then swooped in and Park was arrested. A firearms expert told Stirling Sheriff Court that the gun was similar in design to a Glock P698, but around half the size, bright orange, and worth about £3.99.

Park, who had found the item down a back alley and had picked it up to give to his young daughter, was charged with breaching the Firearms Act by being in possession of an imitation weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll said during the trial, “Are you saying that any child who plays with something that’s described as looking like a gun could be committing an offence, or does it mean they need a reasonable excuse, such as ‘I’m a child and I’m playing cowboys and Indians’?” Park, originally of Sauchie but now living in council homeless accommodation in Stirling, was found guilty of the offence, committed in June 2012.

On Monday (2 December) Sheriff O’Carroll imposed a Community Payback Order for one year, with a condition that Park, a recovering drug addict, is kept under supervision by social workers.

He told him, “It is to your credit that you have not offended since this incident, which took place well over a year ago.” Outside court Park said, “It was a bright orange toy – how can I have been found guilty of having a bright orange toy? It makes it worse that this has been dragging on for so long.”