A DAD is behind bars after he threatened to burn a building site to the ground and torch the boss' car if he wasn’t given a security job.

Joseph McKinlay, 36, was originally “fobbed off” by Robert Faulds when he went to the Cruden building site in Pollok.

But he returned on a number of occasions, demanding work to prevent vandals targeting the site.

He told site manager Mr Faulds he would burn part of the site to the ground and said “I will let the young team in they are dying to get in here”.

McKinlay, from Pollok, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to attempting to extort money from Mr Faulds between July 10 and September 8, 2017.

He also admitted a charge of having a machete on him, on September 14, 2017.

The court heard there had been a spate of vandalism and fire-raising at the Pollok building site, owned by Glasgow Housing Association and where building work was being done by Cruden.

Mr Faulds, 46, was the site manager, and was approached by McKinlay in July last year who said he heard about the issues the site had been facing.

Dad-of-six McKinlay “unsettled” Mr Faulds by saying he could “make it stop” but at that point was “fobbed off”.

He returned again the following month and let himself into Mr Faulds’ office and asked if he remembered him.

Procurator fiscal depute Mark Allan said: “He said ‘This is how it’s going to be, you will provide me with a bothy to sit in and I will guarantee there will be no further incidents’.

McKinlay demanded £500 a week for the job.

He returned to the site at a later date and apologised for his behaviour.

On September 14, police saw McKinlay discard a machete in a hedge on Potterhill Road and he was taken to London Road where he was questioned.

He admitted threatening behaviour on one occasion but denied trying to extort money.

Defence lawyer Garvey McArdle said his client was looking for work at the time and “wishes to apologise” for his behaviour.

Sheriff Daniel Scullion deferred sentence until next month and McKinlay was remanded in custody.