A bigoted Hearts fan yesterday admitted hurling sectarian abuse towards a police horse before a derby match.
Ross Burns, 26, shouted “Fenian horses” and “f*** the Fenian horses” minutes before the game at Tynecastle on Boxing Day last December.
He was arrested by an officer and he later told police: “She was a Celtic c***, I could tell.”
Fiscal depute Eilidh Yates told Edinburgh Sheriff Court one of the officers on horseback was female. Sheriff Peter McCormack asked if it was possible one of the horses was a mare and the abuse was intended for the animal. Yates said: “It was ambiguous.”
She said Burns was released from custody when “sober”, with a bail condition not to attend football matches.
Baker Burns, a coach and goalkeeper with an amateur team, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and uttering sectarian abuse.
The offence was aggravated by religious prejudice.
Defence agent Edward Cadden said: “He had been drinking on Christmas Day and was still very much imbued with festive time drinks.”
Burns had a conviction from five years ago over a nightclub incident which had a religious aggravation.
Burns, of Stenhouse, Edinburgh, was fined £760.
