A FORMER River City actor caught pretending to be a cop for a second time has been ordered to do unpaid work as punishment.

David Friel, 38, lost his job with an undertaker’s firm after admitting posing as a plain-clothes cop on the A82 near Loch Lomond last May.

When he returned to Dumbarton Sheriff Court, there was still no public explanation of why he did it.

Details of the psychiatric report prepared on Friel, as well as an email from Trossachs Search and Rescue, where Friel volunteered for five years, were not stated in open court.

Friel’s defence solicitor said there was “nothing materially exposed” in the psychiatric report and the email “offers some insight”.

Although Friel had a similar convictions in 2002, he was later admonished for it.

The solicitor said: “He is well aware of the seriousness of the matter and your sentencing powers.

“His voluntary work has effectively ended and is unlikely to ever resume. He is no longer exercising contact with his two-year-old daughter. There has already been a substantial penalty imposed. He is taking steps to ensure there is no repetition. He does require some assistance here.”

Sheriff John Hamilton said Friel’s behaviour had been described as “bizarre but also has a malevolent aspect as well”.

He said: “We are not quite sure what his motivation was.”

Turning to Friel, of Crescent Court, Dalmuir, he told him: “Your behaviour was extremely concerning. It’s very important the public have trust in the emergency services. Your behaviour brought that trust into doubt.

“You brought embarrassment on Trossachs Search and Rescue – it’s all your fault. It’s yours and your strange behaviour. I’m still not satisfied [at] what you were doing.”

He ordered Friel to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and he will be supervised by social workers for a year.

Previously, the court heard how a driver and a guide were on board a tour bus travelling north at Inveruglas which slowed to allow a southbound lorry to pass by on the afternoon of May 4, last year.

CCTV footage from on board the bus showed that as the lorry inched slowly past the bus, a dark coloured Vauxhall Astra estate with blue lights flashing from the front grille pulled out from the line of southbound traffic behind the lorry.

The footage showed Friel getting out of the vehicle and approaching the bus in a manner the Crown called “officious”.

Friel was recognised by the bus driver and later arrested.