Dean Cartwright was told to stay within his Drumry flat in the town between 7pm and 7am as part of a restriction of liberty order for a previous offence.

But, he was caught out after falling down the stairs of a flat in McCreery Street as he tried to make sure his friend was okay.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard last Tuesday how police were notified Cartwright had broken the conditions of his order after being admitted to the Western Infirmary in Glasgow.

That only happened after the 23-year-old had called an ambulance for himself.

Joanna Mortimer, defending, told the court: “He had been at home in accordance with his curfew and was making attempts to contact a friend. She suffers from epilepsy and has recently had a lot of seizures.

“He wanted to check up on her but couldn’t get her on the phone. He contacted a friend to go and check up on her, but he was out the area.” Cartwright, whose leg was in a cast and who was reliant on crutches because of ruptured tendons in his leg, called himself a taxi to take him to his friend’s address and check up on her.

However, struggling with the crutches, Cartwright only managed to make it up three steps before falling backwards and injuring himself further.

Rendered motionless because of his accident and existing injury, he could do nothing else but call for an ambulance.

After being released from hospital, Cartwright was nicked by cops on July 20 and held in custody. His solicitor said Cartwright had been out of his address just 10 minutes when he was forced to seek help from the emergency services.

Ms Mortimer added his “lengthy record”did him no favours, but pointed out the majority of his offending took place over a period in 2008-2009 when he was 17.

She added: “There’s one matter from 2014, but with the exception of that, you have to go back to 2011 for his last convictions. His circumstances were different when he was younger.” Cartwright was fined by Sheriff Simon Fraser who issued a stern warning to the repeat offender.

He told him: “If a court orders you to stay in an address between certain hours, you do so, no matter what.”