A MOTHER yesterday spoke of her fears for her children's safety after an incident in which her neighbour brandished a shotgun in a Dumbarton street.

The target of 52-year-old Robert Hegarty's wrath, the High Court in Glasgow heard, was Mr Andrew Wells, 24. As Hegarty menaced him with a gun, Mr Wells's two children were standing just feet away with two of their friends.

The court heard that the gunman's 86-year-old mother came out and dragged him indoors. Seconds later, as Mrs Hegarty tried to wrestle the weapon from her son, it discharged, blasting a hole in the carpet.

Last night, as Hegarty's bail was continued for three weeks pending pre-sentence reports, the mother of two of the children, Ms Carol Price, 27, told how her sons, Richard, six, and Matthew, three, were colouring pictures with their friends Catherine Elder, nine, and her sister Sharon, five, when Hegarty began shouting at them.

When the boys' father, Mr Wells, confronted him, Hegarty returned to his house and returned to menace him with a 12-bore shotgun.

Ms Price, of Boghead Avenue, Dumbarton, said: ``The four children were with Andrew as Hegarty pointed the shotgun at him.

``We heard the gun go off after his mum dragged him indoors. The kids were just 6ft away, and even though there was a door, it was glass. They could easily have been blown away through it.''

When he appeared in court yesterday, Hegarty, unemployed, also of Boghead Avenue, admitted menacing Mr Wells with a shotgun outside his home on July 30 last year, being in possession of a shotgun, and not having a shotgun certificate.

Mr Samuel Cathcart, prosecuting, said that during the incident Hegarty was heard to say to Wells: ``I am going to kill you, you bastard.''

When police later arrested Hegarty, they recovered the shotgun and 148 cartridges.

Miss Frances McMenamim, defending, said Hegarty was an alcoholic and had been off drink for nearly 10 months when a friend turned up out of the blue the night before the incident and he got drunk.

She said her client had been well liked and respected in the area and was ashamed of what he had done.

Hegarty, the court heard, was obsessive about the way he kept his home and garden, which were neat and tidy, and often complained about Ms Price's garden and noise coming from it.

Miss McMenamin said years of provocation built up inside him until he went berserk.

She submitted to the judge, Lord McFadyen, that Hegarty was not a danger to the public but a man who needed help.

Lord McFadyen deferred sentence for further reports and released Hegarty on bail pending his next appearance at the High Court in Edinburgh on July 22.