A trail of blood linked the door of a man to that of his hammer-wielding attacker two floors down, a court has heard.

Alexander MacQueen lashed out after 17 minutes of harassment at his door while he was trying to sleep.

The 35-year-old appeared from custody at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on November 28 after previously pleading guilty to the serious assault in Clydebank.

Fiscal depute Megan Dow said MacQueen had been drinking at a friend's flat on the 11th floor of Cleddans View on September 11 this year.

Around 1.17am on September 12, MacQueen was seen on CCTV entering the lift with his dog.

The man he had been drinking with followed and an argument ensued. MacQueen pushed the man numerous times before the victim grabbed MacQueen by the throat.

MacQueen returned to his flat on the ninth floor and was followed down a few minutes later.

CCTV showed the other man getting into the lift on the ninth floor around 1.40am with blood on his face. He then returned to his own flat.

At 4am, an ambulance was called over an assault with a hammer.

Police saw blood leading from the ninth-floor flat to that on the 11th floor.

Officers repeatedly knocked on MacQueen's door and when they got no reply, they forced entry and found him lying on his bed.

A hammer was found on the floor next to the bed.

MacQueen was arrested and later pleaded guilty to striking a man on the head and body with a hammer to his severe injury. He also broke a curfew imposed weeks earlier where he was meant to stay in his ninth-floor flat between 7pm and 7am every day.

The victim needed six stitches at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

At his sentencing hearing, MacQueen's defence solicitor said his client and the other man had been "something of an item".

On the night, MacQueen "had had enough and went to go to his bed and the complainer didn't take that very well".

"The complainer was quite aggressive and grabbed Mr MacQueen by the throat," said the solicitor. "That should have been that.

"Some minutes later, he went down to the ninth floor and was at Mr MacQueen's door for 17 minutes. He was trying to get to sleep and the complainer was consistently banging the door. He would not leave.

"For some reason [Mr MacQueen] chose the hammer to get the complainer to leae his door.

"That's why these events happened - not that I'm trying to justify it in any way."

Sheriff Mungo Bovey KC released MacQueen on bail so he could be assessed for a drug treatment and testing order.

He said the "relatively minor injuries and to a lesser extent the mitigatory factors" led him to "explore the possibility you're better dealt with in the community".

Sentence was deferred until December 29.