A DRUNK who threatened to kill shoppers on Warminster High Street left his victims so terrified one said she now feels too scared to leave the house.

Another victim, abused on his birthday, told police he would be reminded of the incident every year – on the day he should be celebrating.

Swindon magistrates heard Anthony Mead had threatened to kill innocent strangers on three separate occasions in May and June last year.

Prosecuting, Michelle Hewitt said the 43-year-old had visited a One Stop store in Westbury at around 6.45pm on Sunday, May 20, last year. Drunk, he had knocked over a display of Budweiser beer bottles and sworn at the manager, saying: “I’ll f***ing kill you”, after the woman instructed her staff not to sell him any alcohol and locked him out the store.

An hour later, Mead was at Westbury railway station shouting obscenities at a woman waiting with her partner for a train.

He pushed his bike toward the woman, instructing her to leave her boyfriend and threatening to “smash her head in”.

“She was so scared she was unable to move,” said Ms Hewitt.

Three weeks later, on June 13, Mead was in central Warminster at 7pm shouting abuse at random members of the public.

The cyclist launched a tirade against a young man, who was out celebrating his birthday, saying: “If you call the police I’ll put you in an ambulance – in hospital. I’m going to kill you.” The young man, who suffers from anxiety, said the incident left him petrified, adding: “Every birthday is going to be a reminder of what happened.”

Mead then turned on a mobility scooter-bound woman, Ms Hewitt added. He said: ‘I’ll pull you off the scooter and punch you to the face.’” In a victim impact statement read to JPs, the woman said Mead had taken away her freedom: “I feel I’m living in a prison because I’m too scared to go out at night.”

Police officers responding to the incident were also subjected to Mead’s verbal abuse. One officer was told: “I’m going to rape your wife and kids.”

Mead, of Westleigh, Westbury, pleaded guilty to three counts of making threats to kill.

Defending, Mark Glendenning said his client was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incidents and had significant mental health problems. The threats were the drunken ramblings of a man who was suffering from poor mental health, he added.

However, his client “accepts he is responsible for that behaviour and apologises to the various persons involved”.

Magistrates ordered that a pre-sentence report was completed by the probation service, bailing Mead to appear before Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on August 27.