Dumbarton lout told to ‘get a grip’ after racial threats

Stephen White called the man an “English b******” and claimed his brother had told the man he’d “slash you and put you in the bin”.

The 41-year-old appeared at the town’s sheriff court on Friday after pleading guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at a property in Kyle Terrace on Boxing Day.

Fiscal depute Sarah Healing told the court White had moved into a flat in the block some two months previously, while the neighbour had lived there for two and a half years.

The incident happened at around 2.55pm on December 26 when White directed the threats at a man who was a regular visitor to the neighbour’s home.

White was traced in nearby Cardross Road at around 3.30pm and was arrested, charged and held in custody overnight before appearing in court the following day.

He pleaded guilty to the charge at that point, and was released on bail under a special condition barring him from entering Kyle Terrace – a condition he breached on April 27.

White also appeared in court in connection with a separate charge, which he also admitted, of threatening staff at the Co-op store in Dunn Street in Dalmuir on August 9 last year.

White’s solicitor Judith Reid told the court White was already on a community payback order for a separate offence, and was hoping to get help tackling his substance misuse, either from West Dunbartonshire’s Turnaround project or from the Kershaw Unit at Gartnavel Hospital.

Sheriff Hamilton told White: “You have to get a grip. If there is no progress, if you mess up at the Kershaw Unit or Turnaround, all bets are off.”

Sentence was deferred until August 2.