A MAN who racked up a string of public order offences in Clydebank and Alexandria during just five months in 2018, has been told he may not be given any more chances to avoid prison.

Patrick Maxwell’s crime spree began when he stole alcohol from the Premier Super Save store in Clydebank’s Mountblow Road on May 25 last year while armed with a set of knuckle dusters.

Then, on June 12, at a property in Crown Avenue, he swore, acted aggressively, struggled violently with two police officers, and attempted to spit on them.

On July 7, he repeatedly shouted and swore in Argyll Street in Alexandria and during a journey in a police vehicle to Clydebank police station, kicked a cell door in the vehicle, causing it to hit a police officer.

And finally, on September 29, he repeatedly kicked a door in Crown Avenue and refused to allow police access to his then-home at Kilbowie Court. He then brandished a broken glass bottle, before hitting and injuring himself with it.

Maxwell, 27, appeared for sentencing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday after social workers were asked to prepare a report on him.

His lawyer, Gail Campbell, told the court: “He wishes to write off 2018 entirely. His mental health deteriorated, he wasn’t seeking assistance, his substance abuse had gone off the scale at times, and his family were desperately worried about him.”

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry told Maxwell: “Believe it or not, the courts don’t set out to send people to prison. Prison is a last resort when everything else has been attempted.

“You have reached a stage where it’s very difficult for any court to see how it can do anything other than send you to prison.

“I’m going to make one last effort to see whether you will comply with a community-based disposal.

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“But if things go wrong again, the responsibility will lie at your door – and I think it’s highly unlikely you would ever be given a similar chance again.”

Maxwell, formerly of Park Court in Dalmuir, was handed a six-month “restriction of liberty order” as punishment for the June offences in Crown Avenue, which will confine him to his current home address at Argyll Street, Alexandria, each night from 7pm to 7am.

Sentence on all the other cases was deferred for good behaviour.