A THUG who repeatedly flouted a court's orders after being spared jail for his part in a row with an ex-girlfriend in Helensburgh has been warned he's on the brink of being sent to prison.

Stephen Thomas, formerly of Old Luss Road, admitted breaching two court orders to see his partner and family last year.

The 21-year-old was ordered by a judge not to contact or approach his partner and not to enter her home in Bonhill.

The restriction was imposed as part of a bail order issued on September 2, 2022 - but he breached the order just 17 days later when he was found in her home.

A new bail order was imposed on September 20, with the same requirements - and an added condition banning him from a second property, this one in Gray Street in Alexandria. 

But Thomas admitted breaching that order on November 14, when he behaved in a threatening and abusive manner by uttering threats on the phone to his mother.

He then attended a property on Gray Street where he repeatedly kicked and damaged a door, smashed and damaged windows, and placed his partner and mum in a state of fear and alarm.

In April last year, the Advertiser told how Thomas and his dad took on a teenage girl and her father in the middle of the street in a dispute over a ring.

That incident, in August 2019, saw Thomas throw a stone at a moving vehicle in Helensburgh's East Princes Street while the girl and her father were inside.

He also sent threatening text messages to the girl - who at the time was aged 16, and with whom Thomas had been in a relationship for five years - at a property in Garelochhead.

The messages included a picture of the girl walking in Dumbarton with two male friends, taken without the girl's knowledge, and the message: "He's dead."

That April 2022 court hearing was told Thomas had begun to throw rocks at the girl's father after the pair, and their dads, met in Helensburgh to allow the girl to hand over a ring Thomas said had belonged to his grandmother.

But the meet-up outside Helensburgh Central railway station ended in a scuffle - and afterwards, as the girl and her father were driving away, Thomas stepped in front of their vehicle and threw a large stone at it, shattering a window.

Thomas had been given a community payback order (CPO), with social work supervision and 126 hours of unpaid work, as a punishment for his behaviour.

At Dumbarton Sheriff Court on June 27, Thomas's lawyer said his client had shown "considerable maturity" by informing his solicitor that he had moved from his former home in Helensburgh to Alexandria, citing family circumstances.

But the lawyer admitted that Thomas had not given his CPO the priority he should have.

"There is a level of immaturity and lack of proper prioritisation," Thomas's solicitor told Sheriff William Gallacher.

"The fact that he is no longer in employment means there is no longer conflict.

"It has been made absolutely crystal clear to him that the order has to take priority.

"I have had a very frank discussion with him that he is at the door of custody."

Sheriff Gallacher said: "The difficulty is that if I tell someone they need to sort it, and they don't sort it, then the consequences should follow.

"Otherwise, they won't believe what I say."

Sentencing was deferred for an update on Thomas's compliance with his CPO.

Addressing Thomas, the sheriff added: "I recognise you, and I remember speaking to you.

"I hope that you recognise the consequences. You are this close to finding yourself spending the summer in custody."

Thomas was released on bail and will return to court at a later date.