A VIOLENT Greenock knife thug slashed a man to severe injury in his own home - then had to be Tasered by police after being caught hiding behind a washing machine.

Patrick Doherty attacked the victim with a steak knife and fled the crime scene - leaving trails of blood throughout the property at John Wilson Street.

Doherty, 32 - who has previously served time behind bars for crimes of violence - is today beginning a two-and-a-half year prison sentence.

He admitted to repeatedly striking the man on the head and body with a blade on January 26 last year.

Doherty pleaded guilty to three of eight indictment charges, having admitted another attack on a different victim a year earlier.

He also accepted a charge of abusive behaviour towards police officers when he told constables they were 'dead men' and threatened to spit in an officer's eye.

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The court was told the two men were known to each other and Doherty appeared at the victim's address uninvited before calling him out.

A fiscal depute said: "The victim was heard screaming 'Ahh, stop, call me an ambulance'. He was being attacked.

"The accused then knocked on the door of a witness with his hands covered in blood and he had a long, dark-coloured handle in his waistband.

"The victim was bleeding heavily from his head and face.

"He refused to provide any information to police and was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for treatment."

The victim sustained three wounds to his head after being slashed with a black-handled steak knife, while Doherty was later traced in a nearby property hiding behind a washing machine.

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The prosecutor said: "Police drew a Taser and aimed the red dot at him when he failed to desist.

"This made him more angry and it was discharged, rendering him incapacitated.

"He was handcuffed and taken to hospital then Clydebank police office."

The procurator fiscal depute said there was 'blood throughout the property on doors and walls' and 'bloody handprints all over'.

Defence solicitor Ellen Macdonald claimed the assault victim had been 'speaking out of turn' following the death of Doherty's friend, Adam Anderson, who was killed when he was struck by a car in Greenock last year.

Ms Macdonald said: "He [Doherty] knows he took it too far."

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Doherty also admitted injuring another man with a key in a separate assault on January 31, 2021.

The convict had been walking his dog in Garvald Street when, he claimed, his pet was almost hit by a female driver.

Doherty followed the woman to her home and threatened to blow up her car, the court was told.

The woman's partner then confronted him after he was seen kicking the vehicle's tyres while 'children were inside the house crying'.

A scuffle then ensued and the male victim suffered 'superficial cuts' to his eye, ear and temple.

After being arrested, Doherty was 'extremely hostile' towards police and threatened to spit in an officer's eye.

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Lawyer Ms Macdonald said: "He was on foot and was frightened by the situation.

"He described the complainer as being twice his size.

"He was on the ground when he used the key, so it falls short of self defence."

Ms Macdonald added: "In the past it is fair to say he has not had his troubles to seek.

"He is well aware he faces a custodial sentence."

Sheriff James Mulgrew told him that he had 'no alternative' but to impose a jail term.

The sheriff said: "[The knife assault charge] is a very serious offence in that you have gone armed to someone's house and assaulted them with the weapon.

"You have previous solemn convictions for violence.

"Only a custodial sentence is appropriate."

Doherty was jailed for a total of 29 months.