A CLYDEBANK thug who was caught red-handed with an antique musket in a car is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

Jay Haggerty, 21, from Clydebank, was nabbed in Juniper Avenue, East Kilbride, on August 29, this year, after police received a tip-off.

Prosecutor Michael Meehan told the High Court in Glasgow that police were told the gun was in the silver Volkswagen Polo in which Haggerty was a passenger.

The court heard that he paid a friend £30 to drive him from Clydebank to East Kilbride. On the way he asked her to stop and another man got in after placing a black holdall in the boot.

They gave the driver a postcode destination and as they approached East Kilbride the second man called someone to advise they were five minutes away.

When the car was searched by police the gun - a muzzle-loading musket of unknown age with a shortened barrel – was found along with a butterfly knife.

Haggerty asked the police to let his companions go saying: “It’s nothing to do with them, it’s mine, let them go.”

Mr Meehan said of the gun: "It was a muzzle-loading single shot percussion musket of unknown age or origin.

"It was not a modern reproduction and was not in working order owing to a trigger fault.

"The barrel had been shortened to less than two feet.

“If kept as a curiosity or an ornament it may be considered an antique and may be freely possessed."

But this legal get-out did not apply to Haggerty because of his custodial record.

Mr Meechan added: “The accused accepts it was not possessed as a curiosity or an ornament.”

Haggerty pleaded guilty to two offences under the Firearms Act and a further charge of having a knife in a public place.

Haggerty has since been jailed for 12 months on a separate matter.

Lady Stacey deferred sentence for reports and said: “It’s plain looking at his record that something has gone far wrong and I want to be fully informed.”

Haggerty will be brought back to the court for sentencing on January 9.