A FORMER soldier from Ardrossan threatened to kill police officers during a rammy in Irvine - while so drunk he couldn’t walk by himself.

Ryan Main, of Glasgow Street, boasted he had killed while serving in the British Army - and vowed to do it again.

Main, 36, lost the plot after being ejected from his friend’s home in Irvine’s Dickson Drive at the weekend.

The details emerged this week when Main appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to the single charge against him.

He admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive way, which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm, in breach of Section 38(1) of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, by repeatedly shouting, swearing, adopting an aggressive demeanour and threatening police officers with violence.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Blaire Ford explained: “At around 11.10pm on Saturday, February 1, 2020, police received a call to attend the locus in relation to a disturbance.

“This call was made by the witness Donaldson, who is a homeowner in Dickson Drive.

“Police witnesses were me at the door by the homeowner, the witness Donaldson.

“The witness explained he wished for the accused to be removed from his address.

“Police witnesses were then afforded entry to the property.

“The accused was found seated in the living room of the property in an intoxicated state, he was struggling to walk.

“He was informed that he would need to leave by police.

“The accused complied with the direction given however, due to his intoxicated state, he was struggling to walk.

“Police witnesses took hold of the accused’s arms and assisted him out of the property and to the street.

“The accused began to inform police witnesses that he previously served in the army and has killed in the past.

“The accused then threatened to kill police by stating, ‘I’ll take you out like I took them out in the army’, before proceeding to call police witnesses ‘f****** c****’ and ‘polis w******’.

“The accused was immediately warned to desist from this threatening behaviour, however failed to do so and he continued stated he would ‘kill’ police.”

Main was arrested for threatening or abusive behaviour and was taken to Saltcoats Police Station.

And, once at the station, when officers were searching his property, he said he would “break the hand” of anyone who touched his wallet, before again repeatedly saying he was going to kill a police officer.

Defence solicitor Eamonn McGeehan said: “Clearly, Ryan Main was in a not fit state to carry out these threats.”

The lawyer then referred to the summary of evidence which had been disclosed to him by the prosecution and said: “It states, ‘The witness Donaldson, by his own admission, stated there was no disturbance [at his house, despite him having phoned the police] - he was merely looking for a quick response time from the police.

“He wanted Mr Main out the house.”

Mr McGeehan said Main had been left so emotionally scarred from his experiences serving his country he had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

And he said he was now engaging with Combat Stress - an organisation that help veterans with their demons.

Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane could have caged Main, who has previous convictions for possession of weapons, assault to injury with a bottle, and public disorder, for up to 18 months, due to the fact he was on bail over another Kilmarnock Sheriff Court case at the time.

But she opted to spare him prison, and fined him £350.