A pensioner who emailed his Muslim MP urging her to support air strikes in Syria has been fined £500 for couching his communication in "grossly offensive terms".

James Learmonth, 68, emailed Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on December 1 last year before a Commons vote on the issue.

He was lobbying the Ochil and South Perthshire SNP MP to vote in favour of military intervention.

The email was not opened until December 18, well after the vote but Alloa Sheriff Court heard its content shocked a party worker in Westminster who dealt with it.

Addressed to Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh, 45, a practising Muslim, it read: "Dear Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Feel free to bomb the Muslim bs to oblivion."

Prosecutor Gail Russell said: "It wasn't seen by Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh but the office worker who read it found its contents to be racist and offensive, and forwarded it to his senior manager."

SNP officials reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police, and Learmonth, a retired staff nurse, was interviewed by police in Scotland.

Learmonth, of Donaldson Avenue, Alloa, pleaded guilty to sending at email that "contained grossly offensive remarks" from his home to Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh's constituency office in the Clackmannanshire town.

Defence agent Toni Pentecost said Learmonth sent the email on a day that a British woman had lost her life in the conflict.

Ms Pentecost said: "Mr Learmonth accepts he his free to express his political views and to ask his MP to vote in accordance with his wishes but the language he used on this occasion was unacceptable.

"He was very angry that the British lady had lost her life, and he was blinded by his anger and his frustration on the day he sent it."

She said Learmonth "accepted with hindsight" that the email would be been offensive to someone receiving it.

Sheriff David Mackie said he would deal with the case by monetary penalty.

He told Learmonth: "The consequences of this lack of judgment on your part will be a £500 fine."

London-born Mrs Ahmed-Sheik was a former chairwoman of Edinburgh Central Young Conservatives before defecting to the SNP in 2000.

She was returned as the MP for the constituency of Ochil and South Perthshire, ousting Labour from the seat, which includes Alloa, in last year's general election.