A DUMBARTON man who breached a bail order by spending the evening at a friend’s house – before he’d been given permission to go there - has been jailed.

Graham Craig was found hiding in a wardrobe at the property in Graham Road, Brucehill, on the night of September 25 - when he should have been within a house in Alexandria instead.

Craig, 35, had been granted bail on three separate occasions - at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on August 21 and September 5, and at Greenock Sheriff Court on September 6.

The September 5 bail order included a special condition requiring him to stay at a property in Susannah Street in Alexandria each night between 7pm and 7am.

Fiscal depute Emma Thomson told the court on Thursday: “On September 22, the accused was reported missing.

“On September 25, at around 9.10pm, a police officer made enquiries [at the Graham Road property] with regard to the accused’s presence.

“The lights were on at the locus but there was no reply.

“The officer requested assistance. At 9.20pm it was noted that the lights were switched off.

“At 9.30pm two police officers attended. There was banging on the door and it was eventually opened by another person.

“The accused was found inside the house, concealing himself in a wardrobe within the main bedroom.”

Craig was cautioned and charged and kept in police custody before being taken to court the following day.

Stephen McGuire, defending, said Craig had “jumped the gun” with regard to an application to the court to have his bail address changed.

“We prepared a bail application to change his address,” Mr McGuire told the court, “but the bottom line is he wasn’t at the address he was bailed to.

“He accepts that is the reality. But there is a degree of mitigation that might not otherwise apply.”

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry jailed Craig for three months, and backdated the sentence to September 26, when he was first arrested.