A SEVENTY-two-year-old Carlisle widow who answered a knock on her front door at night was confronted by a drunk stranger yelling that he would cut her throat.

The city’s magistrates court heard how retired mental health nurse Sonia Harris was left so frightened by the experience on the doorstep of her Harraby home that she was unable to sleep and spent the night vomiting.

David Mark McCubbin, 28, blamed his behaviour on mixing medication and alcohol. He admitted being drunk and disorderly and a public order offence by using threatening and abusive behaviour.

Prosecutor Pam Ward said the defendant, of Hazel Dene, Harraby, had banged on the front door of the pensioner’s home at 9pm on August 1. “She opened the door and was confronted by a young male with a beer bottle in his left hand,” said Mrs Ward.

He immediately swore at Mrs Harris, who saw he was drunk and assumed he had called at the wrong house.

But as he became aggressive, she felt vulnerable and scared, said Mrs Ward. It was at this point that he threatened to cut her throat.

When neighbour Sean Greenhow arrived on the scene, McCubbin then directed his aggression and threats toward him. He said he would get somebody to smash his house. Police caught McCubbin a short time later in nearby Keenan Park.

“The defendant’s behaviour upset and distressed several members of the public,” added Mrs Ward.

The prosecutor quoted from Mrs Harris’s victim statement.

“I’m a tough old bird but I am shaking as I am giving this statement and my heart is trembling,” said the pensioner. “I only realised how vulnerable I felt when everyone went.

“I started vomiting all the way through the night, four or five times. I’m a former psychiatric nurse and I’m used to confrontation.

“But this had a different effect. I was anxious and had very little sleep.”

She added that she had been supported by her neighbours.”

McCubbin said he had gone through a tough time in lockdown and could not recall what he did that day.

He did remember going to the Arroyo Arms pub in Harraby and said he was “set upon” by two men. “I’d taken my tablets but too many of them because my mental health has been suffering that much,” he said.

“I blacked out through the night and woke up in the cells. I’m disgusted with myself. I’m 28 and I’ve never been in trouble with the police in my life.

“I am totally ashamed of myself.”

His mental health had deteriorated to the point where he had now reached out to get help, he said. Until April, he needed his medication to get through the day. McCubbin said he hoped soon to start a new job.

District Judge Gerald Chalk said the pensioner’s ordeal had been “incredibly frightening” and the impact on her had been awful.

But the judge accepted McCubbin recognised what he did was wrong. He imposed a £150 fine with £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.