THE son of a leading West Dunbartonshire councillor has confessed to attacking a police officer.

Connor McGinty pleaded guilty at Dumbarton Sheriff Court to kicking the officer on the head on December 6, 2015, while he was on bail following another violent attack.

The 18-year-old pleaded not guilty to shouting and swearing in Redburn, Alexandria, to kicking another officer on the body and to struggling with officers. The court accepted these pleas.

McGinty is already subject to a community payback order (CPO) for viciously assaulting a man over £10 a tenner last year.

In April 2015, when he was 17, McGinty asked a camper in Balloch Country Park to buy him alcohol, and when the man didn’t return with the booze or his money, he hunted him down.

In May, Sheriff Simon Pender narrowly decided against jailing McGinty because of his age, his guilty plea and his “attitude and responsibility” about the incident.

The camper needed surgery to place a steel plate in his face after the attack. The victim will receive £750 in compensation from McGinty. And McGinty, who lives at Allan Crescent, Bonhill, must carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community.

McGinty’s CPO still hasn’t started and he has carried out no hours of unpaid work, with delays common because of social work staffing issues.

Because the CPO had not started, Sheriff William Gallacher last week adjourned the case for reports and continued his bail.

Meanwhile, his mother, Councillor Michelle McGinty, the council’s education convener, has come under fire for raising the issue of delays to CPOs at the full council meeting days earlier.

She asked Jackie Irvine, chief social work officer, “Are the courts taking that into consideration” about delays.

Ms Irvine said: “We keep the sheriffs up to date. There are far more CPOs than there were probation. They are much more complex orders.

“We are underfunded in terms of criminal justice services.”

The use of CPOs has increased 48 per cent in the past year, heard the council, and delays to CPOs starting are regularly referenced in the local court.

Councillor McGinty did not return requests for comment.

Councillor Jonathan McColl, leader of the SNP group, said: “It concerns me she started raising issues around community service placements that directly affect her son and raised it in the council chamber.

“She should be very careful how she proceeds.

“It was not declared as an interest, which is also a consideration. If someone reported it to the Standards Commissioner, she could find herself in trouble.”

Councillor George Black said it was “fairly naive” for Cllr McGinty to draw attention to the matter, but said the report was only for noting and there was no financial interest that was at play.

He said: “In her situation, she would maybe be better not raising it. She has not fallen foul of any statute in the Standards Commission. It’s up to the individual member to decide whether they have an interest or not.”