A DAD has appeared in court after hurling vile abuse at his ex after she got their son an “embarrassing” haircut.

Lee Carlin branded his ex a “s**** bucket” during the shocking tirade outside her Kilwinning home on May 8 last year.

The court heard the 41-year-old arrived at his former wife’s home in Whitehirst Park at around 3pm to collect their son, when the argument broke out because he didn’t like the four-year-old’s new haircut.

The fiscal depute Linda Carnachan told the court: “At 3pm on the day the accused arrived at the locus to collect his son. The complainer organised for her son to leave with the accused and prepared an overnight bag. At that point an argument developed over a haircut that their son had had.

“The accused believed that the haircut should have been paid for from money that he paid to the witness for the child’s welfare.

“The accused became angry and aggressive and started calling her a ‘loonball’. The accused shouted at the complainer, while his son was in the car, ‘You are nothing but a s**** bucket. You lie on your back with your legs in the air.’ This was recorded on the complainer’s mobile phone.

“The accused then left the locus with his son and police were contacted.”

Defending Carlin of Montfode Drive in Ardrossan, Peter Murray said the boy’s “very bad and extreme haircut” had led to his client losing his temper.

He told the court: “There seems to have been a momentary loss of temper but he accepts his language was horrible at the time. He had been in a relationship with the complainer for nine years, separating in 2015.

“The child had a very bad and extreme haircut and he was angry at the condition of the child’s hair which started the initial argument.

Sheriff Michael Hanlon said: “I presume part of the way you acted was concern that your son might be embarrassed by the haircut? This [the court] is a very public forum where this grievance is being aired, which is more embarrassing for your child.

“What you said to the complainer is not acceptable and must have been very embarrassing given that it was close to her home. You need to think about how you are going to deal with this type of situation in the future.”