A CLYDEBANK thug hurled verbal abuse at his partner before throwing a boulder through a window at their flat.

Craig Bell was blasted by a sheriff for his “deeply anti-social and damaging behaviour” when he appeared in court for sentencing on a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.

Bell, 29, had previously admitted shouting, swearing and damaging a window at a flat in the town’s Dumbarton Road in an incident which happened on May 12 this year.

At Dumbarton Sheriff Court last Friday, Sheriff John Hamilton said the conviction was Bell’s fifth for misconduct involving a partner or ex-partner.

Meghan Glancey, prosecuting, said the couple - who had been in a relationship for around six months - were drinking along with others inside the flat on the evening in question, when Bell’s partner decided to go for a bath.

“While she was in the bath,” Ms Glancey said, “the accused entered and asked where the tobacco was.

“She said it was somewhere in the house. The accused left, but came back a short time later and said ‘I found it in the top drawer, you’re nothing but a wee lying b*****d’.

“He began to shout and swear at her; she got out of the bath, and he followed her, calling her a skank, a slut, a cheat and a lying cow.

“The accused left the flat and sat in the garden. He then threw a boulder through the kitchen window.”

Bell’s partner called police, who came and arrested him.

Bell, who was listed in court papers as being resident at the Dumbarton Road flat, originally faced a more serious accusation which claimed that he repeatedly struck a door, threatened his partner with violence and spat on her, but the Crown accepted his plea of guilty to the reduced charge.

Sentence had been deferred until Friday to allow social workers time to prepare a background report.

Derek Buchanan, defending, said: “It’s quite clear that there are two underlying issues here: one is his difficulty with alcohol, and more significantly there seem to be difficulties for him in relation to intimate relationships.

“His health issues are such that he is considered to be unfit for work, but in my submission the matter could be dealt with by the imposition of a non custodial-disposal in the form of a community payback order.”

Sheriff Hamilton said: “This was unpleasant, controlling, demeaning domestic behaviour - and then it escalates by him throwing a rock at a window, and then sitting there playing guitar as if nothing had happened.

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“I’m not convinced he’s a person that wants to change.”

Addressing Bell directly, the sheriff said: “If you don’t change, you’ll come back before the court and you’ll get the jail.”

Bell was ordered to do 140 hours of unpaid work, and will be supervised by social workers for 12 months.