A Pakistani student was locked up on Thursday after he admitted terrifying his neighbours by sending them a graphic DVD featuring images of terrorist acts.
Bilal Malik, 28, posted a shocking DVD that showed the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Iranian Embassy siege, bloody war scenes from Iraq and Afghanistan, and graphic shots of dead bodies, through the letterbox of a mortified family.
The computing student - a practising Muslim - hoped that the explosive film downloaded from the internet would "frighten" the unsuspecting couple.
But now he faces deportation to his homeland of Pakistan after it was revealed he has been an illegal overstayer in the UK since 2005.
At Arbroath sheriff court Malik, pictured above, who was guarded by six Reliance custodial officers, pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace charge after descriptions of "anti-western sentiment" were deleted.
Depute fiscal Hazel Anderson told the court that Malik posted the DVD to a house in Arbroath on September 2 or 3 last year, after his family home had mistakenly received the couple's mail.
He delivered the mail to the right address, and slipped through the letterbox his own parcel, despite not knowing them personally.
The parcel contained the DVD and a message that read: "The post woman made a mistake and you will also because you don't have time to watch this film."
A 29-year-old female occupant found the parcel, opened it, and put the mysterious film into her DVD player.
The prosecutor said that the woman was "extremely distressed and alarmed" by what she saw and contacted police.
Tayside Police officers found Malik's fingerprints on the handwritten message and after an extensive police search, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, eventually traced Malik at his mother's home address in Arbroath this September - almost a year later.
The depute fiscal said: "Mr Malik was found hiding behind large boxes in the loft. He admitted to police that he posted the DVD and told them, 'I thought it would be scary. I do a lot of things to be scary."
Asked by police about the film - which is called Zeitgeist - he replied: "It is a very convincing film, that Christianity is not true, and is fake."
Defence solicitor Keith Sym said that while his client was a Muslim, he "did not consider himself radicalised." He said that the DVD was two hours long and its overall tone was designed to question religion and what governments tell people.
Malik admitted that the householder would probably have only watched the first few minutes of the film and would have been frightened by its content.
Sheriff Norrie Stein called for reports, remanded Malik in custody, and said: "Whatever may be said about the nature of the DVD, it is plainly a serious offence and one that must be discouraged for more or less obvious reasons."
