A CLYDEBANK thug will spend the next year-and-a-half behind bars after attacking and “permanently scarring” another man with a set of keys.

Stephen Kearney, of Beech Drive, appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court last Tuesday for sentencing after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to assaulting Samuel Ramsay in March 2019.

The 47-year-old was charged with seizing his victim by the body and repeatedly striking him on the head and body with a set of keys at a house in Chalmers Street on March 30 last year.

Kearney’s solicitor told the court that neither he, nor his client, were “under any illusions as to the gravity of the matter” and stated that Kearney was “thoroughly ashamed about losing his composure”.

Kearney, who has previous convictions for assault and crimes of dishonesty, including shoplifting, was said to have had his childhood blighted by the fact that his stepdad was an “index criminal”.

Sheriff William Gallacher told him: “This attack resulted in a significant injury and involved marks that will scar somebody permanently.

“You have a very significant criminal record.

“I don’t think I can deal with an offence of this gravity other than by imposing a custodial sentence.”

The Sheriff added that if Kearney had not pleaded guilty at the first diet stage on Christmas Eve, his punishment would have been two years in prison.

Instead, he received a jail term of 18 months.