A TEENAGER admitted to police officers he was in possession of a knuckle duster after being stopped and questioned.

Eidan McKinney, who lives in Kirkmichael Road in Helensburgh, was discovered with the lethal weapon when the cops stopped him in the town on November 28 last year.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard from procurator fiscal depute Scott Simpson that the cops saw the 18-year-old with others and thought he was drinking in the street.

He said: "The incident took place at 6.45 at Victoria Road. Two police officers were there in relation to an unrelated matter when they saw the accused with two other males. They saw he had something in his hand and thought it was alcohol but when they approached him they realised it was his mobile phone. He was asked if he had anything else and was found to have the item [knuckle duster] in his pocket."

First offender McKinney had entered a guilty plea to the charge at the earliest opportunity during an earlier appearance at the court on December 18, sentence was then deferred.

McKinney's defence solicitor Bert Thomson said in mitigation: "He voluntarily admitted having the item to the police. He is not a man of violence, he was out with a group of young people, about 10 of his peer group and one of them an acquaintance pushed it to him when he saw the police. He knows he shouldn't have taken it and knew he was in difficulty when the police arrived. He accepts that he should not have done so. He has no involvement in violence."

The solicitor put his client's offence down to foolishness, adding: "He has a partner with a young child and he has no problems with drugs or alcohol. Clearly the court has to send a message of disapproval however this was not a young man carrying his own knuckle duster but a foolish young man carrying someone else's."

Imposing a community payback order, Sheriff Craig Turnbull said: "You accepted your guilt from the outset. Carrying a weapon, especially ones like this, is something the court has to discourage."

Under the terms of the order McKinney will now be supervised for 12 months and carry out 70 hours of unpaid work in the community within the next three months.