Man jailed for holding neighbour hostage

Alan Clark has been sentenced to 12 months in prison

A man who flouted four separate bail orders when he held a neighbour hostage has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Alan Clark targeted his victim at a flat in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on 24 July 2021.

During the attack he restrained the man, bound his ankles with a cable and then stole items including a car, a phone and a watch.

Clark, 48, who did not have a licence, fled in the vehicle before crashing into a fence.

He was found guilty last month of abduction, assault and robbery as well as careless driving and other road traffic offences.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Clark's victim had been subjected to physical violence, been detained against his will and restrained.

It emerged after the trial that Clark had almost 50 previous convictions, including for violence and drug crimes.

Judge William Gallacher told him: "You have a dreadful criminal record and have been a persistent offender since first appearing in court in 1992."

He said Clark had shown a "shocking disregard for anything and everything in the community around you" in the last three decades.

Clark will be monitored for four years after he is released from prison.

He had been the subject of four different bail orders from the sheriff courts in Paisley and Dumbarton between 2019 and 2021, one of which was imposed just weeks before the attack on his neighbour.