Bryan Woods had been drinking for several hours when he struck his victim with a blade which went through his cheek and reached his tongue.

At Dumbarton Sheriff Court last week, the 29-year-old pleaded guilty to assaulting the man by striking him on the head with a knife to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

Woods, of Elmbank Drive, Alexandria, also admitted breaching his bail conditions by being found out with his home on June 9.

Anthony McGeehan, fiscal depute, told the court the incident took place on April 1 this year.

Woods had been drinking at a property on Ashton View with three other men since the morning. Some time later, Woods’ victim arrived and joined in.

Mr McGeehan said: “During the afternoon, the accused and the complainer became involved in an argument. During the course of the argument, the complainer approached the accused, kicked the accused’s legs from underneath him and caused the accused to fall to the ground.

“He seized the accused by the throat and pinned him to the ground.” The court heard Woods’ victim then returned to the living room of the property and sat on the couch.

Woods got up and looked to retaliate. Mr McGeehan continued: “The accused removed a knife from the waistband of his trousers and stabbed the complainer on the left cheek with the knife before returning the knife to the waistband of his trousers.” Woods took the knife and hid it behind a sofa in the living room. The owner of the property told him police had been called and officers arrived soon afterwards.

They detained Woods and found the knife, which was shown to the court last week.

His victim was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where he was found to have a 4cm laceration to his left cheek. The wound was closed with stitches.

The blade was found to have penetrated the man’s cheek, causing a 1.5cm laceration to the left side of his tongue.

Woods’ victim was left with permanent scarring following the attack.

Mr McGeehan told the court that, having appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on April 2, Woods had been released on bail subject to conditions including remaining in his home between 7pm and 7am each night.

He broke the terms of his order after he was found in Gordon Street, Glasgow, at 9.20pm on June 9.

Bert Thomson, defending, told the court his client acknowledged that a jail term was inevitable.

He said an argument had taken place between Woods and his victim around an hour before the incident but the situation had calmed down and the drinking continued.

Another man turned up at the property but, knowing he and Woods did not get on, the householder did not let the man in.

Mr Thomson said Woods reached for the knife because he was ‘worried’ the person would return.

Describing the attack which then took place, the defence lawyer said Woods was knocked to the ground by having his feet swept from him. He had his neck compressed and had been punched by his victim before lashing out. Mr Thomson told the court his client had suffered a degree of provocation prior to the incident, adding that Woods had been remanded in custody since June 10.

Sheriff Craig Turnbull told Woods, he acknowledged he had been provoked but said ‘the manner and severity’ of the response meant that jail was the only option.

Woods was sentenced to a total of 20 months in prison, backdated to June 10.