A FAIFLEY man branded a “liability to the community” has been tagged for four months – and warned that if he steps out of line one more time he’ll be locked up.

Ryan Rafferty will have to stay inside his home in Bryson Street every night from 7pm to 7am until late June after he appeared in court for sentencing on a string of offences committed over a 10-month period – all of them at, or near, a property in Faifley Road.

The tag was imposed for an offence committed on March 5 last year, and during a journey between Faifley Road and Clydebank’s police station, in which he shouted, swore, acted aggressively and shouted threats of violence.

But on two other offences – committed on December 12 and January 14 – he was ordered to be of good behaviour, and told he would be jailed if he failed to comply.

At a hearing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on February 25, Rafferty’s solicitor said his client had been on a community payback order (CPO) for an unrelated offence.

That CPO had been imposed for an assault on his partner on January 25 last year, in which Rafferty left her injured by grabbing her by the face and neck while she was ill in bed.

But on December 12, he went uninvited to his partner’s home and repeatedly banged and kicked on a door – and after leaving, soon returned and did the same thing again.

And after being arrested, taken to court and released on bail the following day, on January 14 the 27-year-old breached a specific condition of his bail which barred him from entering Faifley Road altogether.

Fiscal depute Alasdair Allan told the court Rafferty had been found within his partner’s home in January after social workers called at the address.

Mr Allan said Rafferty had not committed any further crime, and there had been no suggestion of any threatening or abusive behaviour.

Scott Adair, defending, told the court Rafferty’s partner and family had expressed concern about his welfare, and said his partner “misses his company and his attendance at the house”.

Mr Adair asked for his client’s CPO to be allowed to continue.

Sheriff William Gallacher told Rafferty: “As of right now, you’re a liability to the community. You cause the community difficulty in almost everything you do.

“I’m utterly fed up reading reports that say ‘maybe we could’, ‘maybe if we just’, ‘maybe we might’.

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“But if I sent you to prison today, the community still bears the huge cost of doing that.”

Ordering Rafferty to come back to court on June 4, the sheriff released him on bail under the standard conditions, meaning Rafferty is now free to return to Faifley Road.