A MAN caught with a five-inch blade in a Dumbarton street has been jailed for 40 months.

Stuart Ballantyne, 31, appeared at the town’s sheriff court for sentencing last week after pleading guilty to having the knife on June 12 in Glasgow Road.

The court heard police had been on patrol on the date and were instructed to attend to a man who had a knife in his pocket.

Fiscal depute Sarah Healing had told a previous hearing: “They saw a man with a sock in his hand and they observed the accused near the Dumbarton railway station. They stopped him and detained him.”

A search of Ballantyne was conducted and a kitchen knife with a five-inch blade was found upon his person.

After he was arrested, Ballantyne, listed in court papers as an inmate at Greenock prison, didn’t volunteer a reason for having the knife.

He did say he had taken 10 Valium tablets and drunk two pints of lager, though he didn’t appear to be under the influence.

Ballantyne, who has previous convictions, was bleeding from a minor injury to his hand.

Last week Solicitor Roddy Boag, representing Ballantyne, said his client was concerned that if he was given a period of supervision after release from prison, he might not be offered the support he needed while locked up.

He said: “I have to commend him for his honest approach. History is not on his side. He feels he would not be able to comply with supervision.”

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said: “It does appear he has a degree of insight into the risk he poses to the community.

“I think I have to view this from a position of protecting the public from harm, not from helping him.

“You deserve some credit because you’re not seeking to minimise the gravity of the offence. You have recognised your guilt and inevitability of a prison sentence.”

Ballantyne’s jail term was backdated to June 13, and he will be under supervision for 12 months after his release.