AN ALEXANDRIA man left two children screaming in fear after a drunken outburst at his home, a court has been told.

Robert Carmichael, 31, appeared in court for sentencing after pleading guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear and alarm.

But the sheriff at Friday’s hearing decided not to impose a punishment on the Simpson Quadrant resident until later this month – after noticing that the account of the incident Carmichael gave to social workers was very different to the one described in court.

Fiscal depute Claire Nicholls told Dumbarton Sheriff Court on November 10 that Carmichael had reacted angrily after concern was expressed that he had been drinking.

Ms Nicholls said: “He began shouting words such as ‘f*** you’ and ‘troll’. The children appeared scared.

“He refused to leave. The witness went to bed and was awoken at 11.30pm by the accused shouting.

“She ran to her upstairs neighbour, who observed that the witness was distressed and had no shoes on.

“The accused could be heard banging about and the children could be heard screaming.

“Police were called but the accused continued to be aggressive towards police.”

Carmichael admitted the offence at an earlier hearing, when the presiding sheriff called for background reports before passing sentence.

But at Friday’s hearing Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said: “The accused’s explanation in the social work report scarcely matches the Crown narrative at all.

“There is clear reference in the report to a third party being very actively involved and there is nothing about that in the Crown papers.”

Carmichael’s solicitor said her client was sticking to the story set out in the social work report, but after consulting with Ms Nicholls, told the court it would not be possible for the two sides to agree on a description of what had happened.

Sheriff Hendry agreed to defer sentence until November 23 for the matter to be investigated further.