A DRUNK bus passenger walked up to a seated lone woman and punched her on the face in an unprovoked attack, a court had heard.

Stephen Smillie was jailed for the March 26 attack on Main Street, Renton, when the 36-year-old appeared for sentencing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court.

When the victim boarded the bus at around 5.30pm, near St James Retail Park, she noticed fellow passenger Stephen Smillie was heavily drunk. He was sitting near the front and she sat down five seats behind him.

But Smillie stood up and made his way to the back of the bus, grabbed the woman’s right arm and then took hold of her head and punched her to the right side of the head.

Smillie punched the woman he had never met before to the left eye with his closed fist.

Police were called and got on the bus where they found Smillie with blood on his right hand from a cut near his knuckles.

The resident of Willowbank Grove, Bonhill, was granted bail at the same court the day after his attack.

Just two weeks later, on April 11, Smillie was found at 11.48pm at Dalmuir rail station and appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs and police were called.

Smillie was slumped on a chair and when officers asked if he was okay and get his details, he became aggressive and repeatedly used the word f*** and said to police “f*** off you p*****”. He refused to give his details and was arrested.

Once back at Clydebank police office, at the charge bar he tried twice to headbutt a constable.

Yet again, the next day, he was released on bail, this time with a curfew to stay at home between 6.30pm and 5.30am.

On June 26, police spoke to Smillie’s mother and said he had broken the curfew on June 25.

He had phoned her on the Sunday evening saying “Goodbye, I’m sorry”. His mother believed he was going to buy alcohol at a local supermarket.

Police checked the CCTV on Monday and found Smillie had been in the Co-op in Mitchell Way, Alexandria, at 9.51pm when he should have been home.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court remanded Smillie last Tuesday for all the matters to call together on Wednesday.

Defence solicitor Kenny Clark argued that though Smillie couldn’t return to his mother’s home, his partner would accept him in Onslow Road, Drumry.

He said: “There’s very little that can be said in mitigation. His conduct was entirely inexcusable. He is ashamed of his conduct and rightly so.

“There were two punches [to the woman] – I think these may have been punches of a drunk man.

“He has no recollection of the incident and she fortunately didn’t require any medical treatment.

“He is a Jekyll and Hyde character. He can hold down a job, form good relationships. But when he turns to alcohol, things go completely off the rails and he has reached a point where he realises something must be done about that.”

Mr Clark argued that jailing Smillie was not in the public interest because he would lose his job and the underlying problems would not be fixed while locked up.

But Sheriff Simon Pender, after considering the matter off the bench for 30 minutes, returned and said there was no alternative to custody.

Smillie was jailed for a total of 18 months, dated from June 27.