First Minister Peter Robinson received death threat call

A MAN who drank a dozen pints of cider has faced a court charged with threatening to kill DUP leader Peter Robinson.

Darren Scott, from Croft Court in east Belfast, is also charged with improper use of an electronic communications network.

Newtownards Magistrates Court was told on Thursday the 34-year-old made the threat during a call to the 999 emergency number on Wednesday.

The court heard the accused had drunk 12 pints of cider at the time he made the call threatening the life of the First Minister.

Mr Scott, who is unemployed, made no reply when the charges were put to him.

The accused was remanded in custody to appear back in court on a later date.

Mr Robinson has been First Minister for Northern Ireland since 2008 after Rev Ian Paisley stepped down.

He later also became DUP leader after being Mr Paisley’s deputy for some 30 years during which he also held the east Belfast seat in Westminster.

The threat to 64-year-old Mr Robinson emerged on Wednesday just hours after he revealed two of his senior aides had also been warned by the PSNI that their lives were in danger.

Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Robinson and Health Minister Edwin Poots were warned by police that they were under threat of death.

As well as the threat to themselves, police also warned that those plotting against them would also “shoot their wives and children”.

Alliance Party east Belfast MP Naomi Long also received a death threat and was forced to leave her home on the advice of police over the Union flag row which had engulfed Northern Ireland.