Unruly teen in court for throwing snowballs at Edinburgh pub

A TEENAGER has appeared in court after he became involved in a snowball fight.

The incident took place at the Tynecastle Arms

The 16-year-old lad was larking about with a friend when they began throwing snowballs at the outside of the Tynecastle Arms pub in Edinburgh.

Bar staff were worried a window would be smashed by the icy missiles and asked the youths to stop.

But the boy, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, turned violent and began battering at the busy pub’s front doors.

The unruly teen then opened the front door and launched a snowball into the bar area before challenging a patron to fight with him outside the boozer.

The boy soon made off though when the drinker spotted a passing police car and flagged them down.

Officers traced the boy a short time later and he was arrested and charged.

The 16-year-old pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening manner by shouting, swearing, acting aggressively and throwing snowballs at the Tynecastle Arms and challenging a man to fight on February 28 this year when he appeared at the capital’s sheriff court yesterday.

A plea of not guilty to assaulting a man with a traffic cone during the same incident was accepted by the Crown.

Fiscal depute Claire Crompton told the court the boy and his pal were outside the popular bar in the Gorgie area of the city at around 7pm.

The fiscal said the boy and his friend were seen launching snowballs at the pub’s windows and after being ordered to stop the lad decided to open the pub’s door and throw a snowball into the bar.

Sheriff Peter McCormack was told the unemployed youth is currently under bail conditions to stay within his home address between 7pm and 7am due to separate matters.

The sheriff acknowledged this was the boy’s first appearance in court and that he is still “relatively young” and decided to mark the snowball offence with an admonishment.