A MAN who flouted a court order by going to see his ex-partner when he was banned from doing so has been jailed after a sheriff said he had “reached the end of the line”.

David Gordon was seen in the company of the woman in Meadowbank Street and elsewhere in Dumbarton on July 17.

The terms of the 51-year-old's bail order also prohibited him from entering Dumbarton for any purpose other than a court appearance, compliance with a previous community payback order (CPO) or meeting his solicitor.

Gordon appeared at the town's sheriff court on Friday to be sentenced for the bail breach – and also for behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and acting aggressively towards the woman in Meadowbank Street on the same day.

Emma Thomson, prosecuting, said Gordon, of Thistleneuk, Old Kilpatrick, had arranged to meet the woman at Dumbarton Central railway station, and that after they spoke he had followed her out on to the street despite asking him not to do so.

Ms Thomson said: “She took up a defensive position, standing like a boxer. The accused said 'hit me', but she did not.

“The complainer than decided to go back to him. They sat on a train together. She then got off the train and was followed by the accused.”

The pair then went to the woman's flat, but there was an argument outside which was witnessed by a neighbour and which led to the police being called and Gordon being arrested.

Ms Thomson said Gordon, who had been granted bail at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on January 25 and April 6, had not been formally cautioned and charged “due to his drunken and erratic behaviour”.

Brian McGuire, defending, said his client's position was that the woman had asked Gordon to go to her flat to help her redecorate.

Mr McGuire also told the court he had expressed concern to Gordon about the couple's relationship.

Mr McGuire said: “I'm no relationship counsellor, but he has had the benefit of my views on this relationship.

“When I saw he was engaged, I was taken aback and he was taken aback – that's something that's in her mind.

“Drink is the toxic combination when these parties get together.”

Mr McGuire told Sheriff Maxwell Hendry that Gordon had completed hours of unpaid work imposed as part of his previous CPO – itself imposed for spitting in the face of the same woman at a pub on Glasgow Road in Dumbarton on January 24 this year – and had also completed a rehabilitation course.

“Had he not gone to Dumbarton,” Mr McGuire added, “it may well have been that those parties intervening on his behalf would have done so successfully.

“I've explained to him that this most recent matter might just be the thing that tips your Lordship to the view that this can't go on.”

Sheriff Hendry told Gordon: “I've given this matter considerable thought, and as Mr McGuire, and you, anticipate, this can't continue.

“You have been told, and shown, that someone who sets out to break a court order, while on bail and required to be of good behaviour, has reached the end of the line.”

Gordon was jailed for four months, backdated to July 19, the date on which he pleaded guilty to the offences.