A man bombarded a church minister with hate mail and told him to "hang himself".

Damon Kelly sent letters and postcards to Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth at the Provost of St Mary's Cathedral Episcopal Church, in which he branded gay people "devil's droppings".

Kelly, 57, was convicted of sending the mail in January and Feburary 2017 and on Thursday at Glasgow Sheriff Court was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

In one abusive letter, Kelly, from Orkney, said: "A would-be serial killer would in my opinion find useful employment, if, instead of the usual poor old prostitute, he were to embark upon the elimination of Anglican clerics."

In another vile rant he said Reverend Holdsworth should "hang himself", if "he isn't going to repent of his evil".

Kelly - is part of a Catholic group known as the Black Hermits - admitted sending the letters, but said it was because of his religious beliefs.

Following the sentencing, Mr Holdsworth said: "I warmly welcome the sentencing of Mr Kelly today. No-one should have to face this kind of intimidation.

"There are no circumstances where it is ever appropriate to send such threatening material through the post.

"These letters had a negative impact on many people including office staff and many members of the congregation.

"At one time, it would have been difficult to get the police to take this kind of thing seriously. Now, that isn't the case and I could not speak more highly of the way that Police Scotland have dealt with this case.

"St Mary's Cathedral remains an open, inclusive and welcoming congregation which welcomes LGBT people and seeks to build goodwill with other people of faith.

"We stand against homophobia, transphobia and Islamophobia.

"I'm thankful for the good wishes from both Christians and Muslims in connection with this and am pleased that the case is now concluded."