A MAN who was caught with a blade in Helensburgh has been jailed for two years.

Barry Hamilton, 38, was sent to prison at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday.

Hamilton, who was listed in court papers as an inmate at Greenock prison, appeared for sentencing after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to being in possession of an offensive weapon in Hardy Hill in the Churchill area on June 19.

He was found in possession of a blade with a keyring attached to it. A search at the scene revealed he also had a small quantity of a substance which later tested positive as cannabis.

Defence solicitor Scott Adair said the item was in a jacket Hamilton’s mother had given him.

Mr Adair, who said Hamilton himself would describe his record as “atrocious”, told the court: “When I saw him, it was quite clearly not his jacket.

“He accepts fully he found it in his jacket and did not do anything with it.”

Sheriff Simon Pender highlighted several convictions on Hamilton’s record for assault and possession of offensive weapons.

He jailed Hamilton for two years, backdated to June 20, and fined him £130 for the cannabis possession.

Sheriff Pender also said that because Hamilton was assessed as being at “high risk” of reoffending, with the “potential of causing real harm”, he will be supervised for a further 12 months on his release.