A man just out of prison who smashed a window at a Stirling city centre hostel showering glass on the pavement below was this week jailed for four months.
Steven McLaughlin, formerly of Bannockburn, had admitted a charge of culpably or recklessly smashing an upper floor window at the Willy Wallace Hostel in Murray Place on July 11 this year causing glass to fall onto the pavement to the danger of others.
The 36-year-old had also appeared at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday for a review of a Community Payback Order which had been imposed on a further charge of culpable or reckless conduct.
On that occasion, August 1 last year, McLaughlin had thrown a glass bottle at a window of the Travelodge on Goosecroft Road – causing it to smash and showering the dining room with broken glass and exposing the occupants to injury – while on bail on another matter.
Stirling Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday that police had been made aware of the July 11 hostel incident after it had been captured on CCTV.
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Fiscal depute Lindsey Brooks told Stirling Sheriff Court that “numerous” members of public had been walking by at the time,
McLaughlin was at the window with his top off shouting and punching glass panels, causing one to break. Fragments of glass fell onto the footpath.
Ms Brooks added when officers spoke to McLaughlin he admitted that he had been released from prison that day.
McLaughlin’s lawyer Frazer McCready told Sheriff Keith O’Mahony that his client had gone up to his room,
However, he had noticed his father and others at a nearby bus stop and had been trying to get their attention,
Unfortunately a window smashed, the lawyer added. Mr McCready pointed out that McLaughlin - whom he described as “institutionalised” and in and out of custody – had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. He also told Sheriff O’Mahony that McLaughlin needed to get away from family and friends who buy him alcohol.
Taking account of his record, Sheriff O’Mahony told McLaughlin he was satisfied that only a custodial sentence was appropriate. He jailed him for four months, reduced from six to reflect the timing of the plea.
However, there were “positive factors” in the CPO review and he set a further review hearing, for an updated report, for August 31.
