A MAN threatened to blow up his property during a confrontation with workmen over a noisy asbestos-removal project.

Clive Hewlett told the workers ‘I’ve got loads of hand grenades on the way, I’m going to blow this place up’.

The court heard that the 62-year-old later wielded his air rifle in front of a worker, causing him to ‘freeze’ with fear.

Shafquat Reaz, prosecuting, said: “At around 1.45pm, two workmen were going about their duties working in the corridor of Thomas Morris House.

“It’s at this time that they were confronted by the defendant who was complaining about the noise being created by the work being done.

“They described him as drunk. He exited his doorway, went into the corridor and said ‘I [expletive] hate this place, I’ve got loads of hand grenades on the way, I’m going to blow this place up.

“He returned a few minutes later holding an air rifle. Nothing was said by him but he [one of the workmen] saw the rifle being waved around.

“He feared for his safety and was shocked and froze. He was not sure if it was loaded.”

Police officers were then called to the scene, arresting Hewlett and confiscating his two air rifles, the court heard.

Magistrates were told that the workers were removing asbestos from the ceilings of the property that Hewlett lives in.

Hewlett, defending himself, said he was ‘terribly sorry’ about the crime.

He added: “I said to them ‘you spend more time smoking outside and drinking cups of tea than doing this building work’.

“I was not drunk. The air rifles were .177s [guns that fire 4.5mm calibre pellets], the type you would use at the fairground. They are little put puts."

However, Mr Knight, chair of the magistrates bench, said: "A .177 could put someone's eye out, true or false?

"The use of the air rifle was very contentious. I suggest you don’t try and get the air rifles back.”

Hewlett, of Thomas Morris House, in William Tennant Way, Upton, near Worcester, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to using threatening words and behaviour towards Billy Perrott and Dylan Merry on March 12.

He was fined £200 and told to pay £135 in costs and a £30 victim surcharge at Worcester Magistrates Court on Thursday.