By Craig Borland

A MAN threatened to stab a group of teenage boys outside a shop on a busy Clydebank road.

George Campbell was heavily drunk when he went after the group in Kilbowie Road in October 2016.

The 35-year-old appeared in court after pleading guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and threatening to stab the boys – who were aged 14 and 15 when the offence took place.

Martina McGuigan, prosecuting, told Dumbarton Sheriff Court: “Prior to this incident the witnesses did not know the accused. One was aware of him because the accused had lived with the boy’s mother two years previously, but he had had no dealings with the accused.

“The three boys spent the afternoon in Clydebank’s shopping centre and began to walk towards Faifley at 5.50pm.

“They were approached by the accused near Clydebank health centre. He appeared intoxicated, but friendly, and did not cause them any alarm.

“The witnesses walked up Kilbowie Road and were then approaching the Kilbowie roundabout near to the Spar shop when they saw the accused speaking on a mobile phone.

“The accused approached one witness and asked what his name was. He became increasingly aggressive and asked the witness if he knew who the accused’s daughter was.

“The witness was confused by this and denied knowing the accused’s daughter.

“The accused then shouted to another of the witnesses ‘get f****** back here’ and stated he would ‘plug’ every one of them.

“He said: ‘I’ve got a knife and I’m not afraid to stab youse. None of youse move or you’re getting plugged.’ “The witnesses were frightened and intimidated. The accused went in to the Spar shop and the witnesses ran away.”

Police were contacted but initial attempts to trace Campbell proved unsuccessful.

Campbell’s solicitor, Phil Lafferty, said: “I, and he, recognise that this is a serious matter and would have been extremely worrying for the boys at the time.

“Although one of the boys was aware of who Mr Campbell was, he and the others would nevertheless have been uncertain about whether these were idle threats or something he was prepared to do. He is at a loss to explain his actions. There doesn’t appear to be any rational basis for what he was doing or saying.

“Because of his intoxication at the time he has virtually no memory of what happened, but what he is described as doing makes no sense to him.”

Mr Lafferty pointed towards the time that had elapsed since the incident and said Campbell, of Field Road, had not been in any further trouble since then.

“He is not a prolific offender,” Mr Lafferty added. “This particular episode is bizarre and out of character for him, and given that, I would urge the court to take the view that there is scope for a community-based disposal here.”

Sheriff Simon Pender, however, decided to ask for a report from a doctor on Campbell’s fitness to do unpaid work before passing sentence. Campbell will return to court on May 11.