And finally… what a rat

Ann Thompson and a friend heard scuttling from her attic and, on investigation, found rat food and a pan of water which had been put there by her husband of 12 years.

Lee Thompson went to the pet shop to buy two rats mere hours after he was removed from the house, and Mrs Thompson returned home to find empty boxes from the pet shops as well as literature about caring for rats.

The woman, who has “a deep-rooted phobia about rats of which he is well aware”, placed rat traps in the loft to deal with them.

Lee Thompson admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive maner likely to cause a person fear or alarm by putting the rats on the property last year, and was fined £710.

Sheriff Kenneth Robb told him: “This was a nasty piece of behaviour to get back at your wife.”