TWO thugs have pleaded guilty to a string of attacks in Helensburgh carried out on one man over several months.

Alexander McBride and Connor Milne appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court over charges dating to December 2022, and February and October last year.

The charges related mostly to attacks on one victim.

In the first, on December 10, 2022 in Buchanan Road, the man was chased, a bin brandished and thrown at him, and then shouting and swearing.

Milne, 30, pleaded guilty to that offence, and the Crown accepted McBride’s plea of not guilty.

Prosecutors also agreed that Milne, of Old Luss Road, was not guilty of assaulting another man and throwing ornaments or similar at him, causing one to strike him on the body to his injury.

Then, on February 15 last year, in Kirkmichael Road, McBride shouted, swore and uttered threats of violence, brandishing a piece of wood and chasing the same man who’d been targeted by Milne two months earlier.

McBride was originally charged with being in possession of a machete, but this was later changed in the charge to a piece of wood, with the Crown accepting he was not guilty of having the blade.

McBride also pleaded guilty to uttering threats to the same man at the Kirkmichael Mini Market store on Stuckleckie Road on October 16 last year.

The 26-year-old was on three bail orders at the time of the October offence, though the Crown accepted a plea of not guilty to a further charge of breaching a court’s orders not to communicate with the man.

McBride was described in court papers as a prisoner at Low Moss in Bishopbriggs, with his solicitor, Scott Adair, saying his client had been behind bars since October.

Mr Adair said: "The matters are greatly reduced from what was produced previously. His record is obviously not ideal."

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry agreed to allow McBride back on to the streets – albeit on bail – while social workers prepare background reports on both accused.

But the sheriff said he was “making no promises” that he wouldn’t send McBride back to jail when the time comes to sentence him.

As part of the bail order, McBride will be under a curfew keeping him indoors between 7pm and 7am each night, except on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when the curfew will kick in at 9pm.

As McBride showed his pleasure at no longer being on remand, the sheriff told him: “It’s always advisable to save the big smiles until you’re out of the sheriff’s sight.”

The pair will be sentenced at a later date.