A FORMER Helensburgh resident has been spared a prison sentence after he admitted threatening and abusive behaviour towards his partner.

Nathan Bailey, 23, now of Ellesmere Street, Possil, Glasgow, appeared in court for sentencing on Friday after pleading guilty to shouting, swearing and acting aggressively towards the woman at a flat in West Princes Street in Helensburgh on July 3 last year.

Bailey, formerly of Fisher Place, Churchill, pleaded guilty to the charge last October, but a hearing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court was reminded that sentence on him had been deferred for good behaviour and for progress reports.

The seriousness of the offence was aggravated because it involved abuse of the accused’s partner or ex-partner.

Bailey’s solicitor, Tom Brown, told the court Bailey had not only stayed out of trouble but had also completed unpaid hours of community work imposed for a previous offence.

Mr Brown said: “He seems to have done what he’s been told to do.”

Sheriff Simon Pender said: “Since you’ve completed your previous order and have been of good behaviour I’m prepared to deal with this today by the imposition of a further community payback order as a direct alternative to custody.”

Bailey was told to carry out a further 200 hours of unpaid work – reduced from the maximum of 300 because of his early guilty plea – within 10 months, and was placed under social workers’ supervision until July 2019.