A 26-YEAR-OLD man who has been avoiding his court-ordered work was told he was behaving like a “teenage boy” by a sheriff.

Jordan Higgins previously admitted assaulting a woman at a Dundee casino and during a separate incident elsewhere in the city back in February 2015. He was given a community payback order with unpaid work. But in the time since it was imposed, he’d only done 48 hours.

Last week he was pulled in to Dumbarton Sheriff Court, because he’s now living in Gran Street, Clydebank, for his “disastrous” level of work.

Higgins claimed he had been injured last year, preventing him doing unpaid work. But he still managed to do his paid employment and Sheriff John Hamilton noted the man had an active social life as well.

Defence solicitor Judith Reid told the court Higgins had an accident last October that affected his work and he didn’t inform the social work department properly.

She said: “The CPO has been fairly disastrous. He appreciated there’s a distinct possibility of a custodial sentence.

“His attempts to comply have been fairly sketchy. He is someone who is desperate to stay in employment and has a good employment record. He has worked away for a lot of the order.

“He has had a bgit of a blinkered approach. He has not been open with his employer about his CPO. He changed that situation by handing himself into custody and organised that with his employer. He has the support of his employer in terms of being more available.”

Sheriff Hamilton replied: “He manages to play football on a regular basis. He just treats the court order with contempt.”

Ms Reid continued: “I appreciate this young man cannot continue to waste court time or ask for last chances. Apart from this difficulty, he is living a law abiding life.”

In giving Higgins three months to complete his work, Sheriff Hamilton pointed out that Higgins got a cracked rib and a bang on the head from his accident last year, but continued his employment.

He said: “I’m not going to jail you. That was at the forefront of my mind. You are on your last chance. If you mess this up this time, you’re going to jail. You’re behaving like a teenage boy.”

Higgins has an extra three months to finish the unpaid work and will be reviewed on September 1.