A FATHER-TO-BE is set to be behind bars for the birth of his child after being arrested during a maternity unit appointment at Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Repeat offender Owen Murray had been attending the IRH for his pregnant girlfriend’s 12-week scan when police caught up with him over bail and curfew breaches.

The 28-year-old had previously been given community payback orders as alternatives to custody for a number of offences, including knife possession, shoplifting, and ignoring night-time restrictions.

Murray was locked up for more than a year at Greenock Sheriff Court after appearing from custody for sentencing.

He had previously been convicted of unlawfully carrying a blade and a razor on Nelson Street in April 2022, while he also had a bladed weapon within the common close of a property on Ann Street in August that year.

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Murray, whose address was listed in court papers as Church Street in Kilwinning, breached bail curfew conditions in November 2022 and stole a quantity of alcohol from Morrisons on Dellingburn Street in January last year.

Last week’s hearing was told that Murray moved back to the town from Ayrshire having met his new partner.

Defence solicitor Amy Spencer said: “He really only has himself to blame for this.

“He was given an opportunity in relation to an alternative to custody and whilst there was no further offending, there was not a great deal of cooperation.

“He failed to cooperate with a restriction of liberty order and moved back from Ayrshire to Greenock.

“His decision to move back was perhaps reckless and not in keeping with his duties under his orders.

“He got a new partner and she is pregnant.

“He prioritised that over everything else and is suffering the consequences of that now.”

Ms Spencer told the court that Murray’s lack of insight into his offending, detailed in a social work background report, made for ‘fairly bleak reading’.

The lawyer added: “He was arrested at the maternity unit at the hospital – a day he is unlikely to forget for the wrong reasons.”

Sheriff Anthony McGeehan said Murray’s ‘extensive’ criminal record meant that imprisonment was ‘the only viable option open to me’.

Murray was sentenced to a total of 411 days in jail backdated to August 14 when he was remanded in custody.