A DALMUIR dad-of-three caught carrying a blade in the street on Boxing Day told police "it's just a knife".


Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard Paul McAuley, 30, was caught on CCTV holding the knife aloft in the street outside his home after a row earlier.


He also told police: "I thought someone was going to do me in."


The court heard police were monitoring CCTV around Swindon Street when they noticed a man caught on camera with a large black-handled knife in the street at around 1.35am.


The man raised the blade several times before going into a close.


Officers attended and knocked on McAuley's door. When he opened it he matched the image of the man caught on CCTV and police told him they were carrying out inquiries regarding what they had seen.


Fiscal depute Eoin McGinty said McAuley replied: "Aye, that was me".


McAuley continued: "I thought someone was going to do me in so I got a knife and went down.

 

"It was just a knife, I was only trying to defend myself."


McAuley pleaded guilty to being in possession of the knife in a public place and appeared in court on Thursday for sentencing following the preparation of a background criminal justice social work report.


His lawyer, Judith Reid, said his behaviour on Boxing Day was a "somewhat of an aberration".


She added: "There doesn't seem to be any logic to what was done that night, other than he'd had a significant amount to drink of a spirit that he would not normally drink."


She urged Sheriff Simon Pender to spare McAuley jail so that he could see his three children and keep working.


Sheriff Pender said he would have "no hesitation" imposing a jail sentence in cases such as this, where a knife had been taken into the street following a confrontation with others earlier.


But he spared McAuley jail in favour of a community-based sentence, telling him: "Given the positive aspects of the social work report and the fact that you have two minor convictions, with considerable hesitation I'm prepared to deal with you by imposing an alternative to custody."


Sheriff Pender sentenced him to a community payback order involving 200 hours of unpaid work and a year of supervision.


He also placed McAuley on a 8pm-6am home curfew, for a total of three months.