WARNING: This story includes details of serious sexual crimes against young people.

A Clydebank man has been jailed for 18 months for abusing two teenage girls.

Lawrence McElhinney was put on the sex offenders list for 10 years after being convicted by a jury in just minutes at a trial into his crimes in October.

He will be supervised for a further two years after his release from prison.

On various occasions between July 1, 2020 and December 2021, at a property in the town and elsewhere, he sexually assaulted a girl.

He embraced her and touched her buttocks. On a separate occasion, he repeatedly entered her bed and touched her body, legs, buttocks, breasts and vagina and did seize hold of her preventing her from leaving the bed.

On another occasion, he entered the bedroom where she slept, touching her vagina and uttering sexually explicit language towards her.

And the jury further found that he touched her legs and thighs and attempted to touch her vagina and intentionally directed sexual communications towards her by making lewd and indecent remarks towards her.

In a second charge, between January 1 and December 2021, he sexually assaulted another girl. He embraced her and touched her buttocks.

The jury also found McElhinney guilty of assaulting the same girl by striking her on the buttocks in December 2021.

The identity of the girls is protected by law.

At Dumbarton Sheriff Court on November 28, McElhinney's defence advocate said his client was fired by his employer after his conviction.

The KC said: "He maintains the position adopted at trial. That will limit to some extent what your lordship can do today.

"He has a good work ethic. He has been reducing his alcohol intake and receiving some support from his family in those regards.

"He received support from family members in general."

The advocate said his client - a first offender - was assessed as "low risk of reoffending on some metrics and medium on others".

He added that McElhinney was willing to undertake any alternatives to custody.

But Sheriff Mungo Bovey KC said: "As the [social work] report recognises, I don't see any alternative to a custodial sentence here.

"I'm glad to hear he is addressing his alcohol difficulties. I have a strong feeling the large consumption of alcohol will have contributed to the circumstances of the offences."

He sentenced McElhinney to 18 months in prison and two years of supervision in the community after he is released.

And he will be on the sex offenders register for 10 years.