A MAN who threatened two train staff must stay at home every night for the next four months, a court has ordered.

Anthony Stewart appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court over a number of cases stretching between 2021 and 2024 in both Clydebank and Dumbarton.

The 38-year-old's own defence solicitor accepted there were a "whole host of matters".

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He said his client had faced difficulties in his life and was engaging with a variety of agencies.

But a sheriff said the public needed "respite" from his behaviour.

Stewart - listed in past court papers as living in Peel View, Clydebank, and Halkett Avenue, Dumbarton - previously admitted having a knife in West Court, Clydebank, in September 2021.

On March 16, 2023, on a train between Dalmuir and Bowling, he refused to buy a ticket, shouted, swore and repeatedly uttered threats of violence towards two members of staff. He lunged at the male one. He was on bail from 2022.

Then in May 2023 in Bontine Avenue, Dumbarton, he had a knife.

And in August this year, he broke a court order not to be in the company of a woman by being with her in Alexandria.

The court was told Stewart had breached a supervised release order after previously being jailed in May 2023. Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said it left him with "limited options".

But the sheriff accepted he had seen the accused in a "pretty bad condition" in the past.

"To say you present a challenge to the court would be a vast understatement," said Sheriff Hendry.

"The easy option is to lock you up for as long as possible. The maximum sentence available today is eight years.

"A very large part of my brain is saying three to four years, if only to give the public some respite from your behaviour."

Instead, the sheriff made no further order on the breach of supervised release, meaning Stewart would not return to jail.

On the rail incident from March 2023, he was put on a community payback order as a direct alternative to custody.

He will be supervised by social workers for 18 months and must take treatment or counselling for substances as directed.

And he will be electronically tagged and under curfew for four months, from 7pm to 7am daily.

A review will heard on November 29 - and the sheriff said: "You either comply with this order or you go to prison."