By Craig Borland

A CLYDEBANK man threatened to slit police officers’ throats after “falling off the wagon” – following an alcohol counselling session.


Peter Connelly of Mossgiel Drive lashed out at the officers after being seen acting suspiciously at the town’s Asda supermarket.


Connelly’s solicitor told Dumbarton Sheriff Court that his client had stayed alcohol-free after being placed on a community payback order (CPO) for a separate offence.


“Mr Connelly has no recollection of events due to his intoxication,” his agent said. 


“There is a terrible irony about this: he had been at a meeting where there was a fairly in-depth discussion about alcohol, and that seems to have triggered in him a temptation he couldn’t resist.”


“He got himself into a state and everything else flowed from that.”


Laura Knox, prosecuting, said Connelly, 38, was acting suspiciously in the Britannia Way store at around 7.20pm on June 15, concealing items within his jumper.

Police who were in the store at the time went to speak to him, Ms Knox said, and he “immediately became hostile”.


He was found in possession of items worth a total of £82.20, but in the course of a search he continued to shout and swear before threatening to slit the officers’ throats.


Connelly also admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner after being taken to Clydebank police station, where he repeatedly spat on the floor of a holding cell.


Sentence was deferred until October for a progress report on Connelly’s existing CPO and for the case to be dealt with alongside other matters.