Helensburgh Advertiser | News | Knife teen's let-off

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Thursday, 30th November, 2006 11:02

Knife teen's let-off

By Tracy-Ann Carmichael

A KIRKMICHAEL youth caught with a knife has avoided a jail term.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday that David Houston was spotted ditching a knife at Helensburgh station by officers from the British Transport Police.

Gillian Climie, prosecuting, told the court that officers spotted Houston after he stepped off a late evening service from Drumgelloch at Helensburgh Central on March 24 this year.

Depute Fiscal Miss Climie added: “Passengers disembarked including the now accused.

“He was seen to be holding a knife, which he then placed on top of a metal bollard in the car park area, and left the station.”

Officers picked up the knife and followed Houston, of Kirkmichael Road, into the street, where they stopped him.

He admitted he had the knife, claiming he had found it on the train.

Sentence on 17-year-old Houston had previously been deferred for the court to obtain advice from the Children’s Panel, currently supervising the accused.

Kirstine McRae, defending, told the court that her client is “immature” and accepts that he should not have lifted the weapon.

She said: “Mr Houston’s error was in taking the knife from the train at all, it having been found there.

“He accepts that he did things the wrong way.”

The agent told Sheriff William Dunlop, presiding, that her client had been travelling with a friend who, having no money for his fare, had kicked the seat in front of him to see if any coins dropped out but instead the small knife fell.

The court also heard that Houston’s girlfriend is expecting a baby in April.

Sheriff Dunlop commented that the knife was “very small” in size. Houston would have been permitted to carry this knife on his person, he said, had it not been for a locking mechanism on the weapon.

The Sheriff deferred sentence on Houston for a year for him to be of good behaviour, saying: “This is exceptional. It’s not the normal case of carrying a knife.”

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