A KNIFE offender caught with a blade within a common close in Greenock was on three bail orders at the time.

Owen Murray committed the offence at a property on the town's Ann Street having been repeatedly allowed back on the streets regarding other criminal matters.

Murray, 27, had been locked up on remand regarding one of those cases, however, he was granted bail after appealing against his incarceration.

As well as the knife offence, committed on August 22, 2022, he admitted breaching a night time curfew by failing to appear at his front door at a flat on Florence Street when police were checking on his whereabouts.

Murray had been charged with having a screwdriver on the same date and to failing to disclose he had a sharp object on his person when police carried out a search.

He also faced charges of breaking a court-imposed curfew on October 23, 2022 in Bearhope Street, and on another occasion in Florence Street.

But at a hearing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court yesterday, the Crown accepted his pleas of not guilty to those allegations. 

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said: "You have a full page of previous convictions starting in 2012 and ending in 2017.

"It was to your apparent credit that offending stopped in 2017. The court needs to know as much as possible.

"I'm sure every option is going to have to be thought about."

Sentence on Murray, who now lives in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, was deferred until February 21, when the case will call at Greenock Sheriff Court.