A man has been jailed after shouting he was "going to murder someone" whilst brandishing a knife.

James Shields, 45, of HMP Kilmarnock, pleaded guilty to two charges including carrying a knife when he appeared at the town's sheriff court this week. 

He admitted that he brandished a knife towards two people, his mum and sister, at a property he shared with them in Ritchie Street in New Farm Loch, uttering threats to cause harm to himself and others. 

Hours later, he brandished a different knife at Kilmarnock Police Office, in the early hours of October 5, last year.

Speaking in court, the Fiscal Depute said the incident started around 11pm on October 4, when Shields entered his sister's room with a knife. She screamed out before his mother took the knife from him. 

Around 12:30am on October 5, his mother dropped him at Kilmarnock Police Office, where he produced a second knife and shouted, "I have an offensive weapon" and "I'm going to murder someone".

Officers arrived and pointed their tasers at him, by which point he had already dropped the knife, and was taken into custody.

Shields' defence solicitor told the court that his client had a long-standing cocaine addiction, and was previously admitted for treatment for drug induced psychosis at Woodland View near Irvine. 

He explained that Shields had relapsed around the time of the incident, but admitted his client understood that a custodial sentence was inevitable. 

Sentencing, Sheriff Fraser handed out a 12 month sentence for each charge, to be served concurrently backdated to October 5.