A Clydebank youth was left permanently disfigured after he was hit on the head by a piece of brick thrown in a confrontation between gangs from the town and Drumchapel.

Stephen Anderson was knocked to the ground and severely injured after a territorial dispute between the groups last summer.

Anderson's assailant, 20-year-old Marc Morrison, was given 18 months' detention when he appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court to face sentence on July 28.

As reported in the Clydebank Post, Morrison, of Lochgoin Avenue in Drumchapel, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to assaulting Mr Anderson on July 25, 2015, to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement, near the junction of Alsatian Road and Onslow Road in the town.

Morrison's solicitor, Brian Lanigan, told the court the Crown had accepted a plea that his client, a painting and decorating student at the City of Glasgow College, had committed the offence “under provocation”.

Mr Lanigan told the court CCTV cameras had captured footage of a confrontation between groups of youths from Clydebank and Drumchapel, just east of the Drumry Road roundabout on Great Western Road.

The footage, he said, showed one group running at the other, and the other then retreating, before the second group ran back towards the first.

Mr Lanigan told the court that according to the footage Mr Anderson was the “prime mover” among the Clydebank group, and could be seen advancing, bare-chested, on the Drumchapel gang, brandishing an “extremely large” knife and pointing it at Morrison.

Describing the images captured by the cameras, Mr Lanigan said: “At one point the accused picks up a piece of a brick, runs towards the complainer [Anderson] and throws it, and it strikes him on the head and he falls.

“It's immediately apparent from the actions of all involved that this wasn't supposed to happen. Both groups then move away, and there are a number of mature females – mothers, possibly older sisters and aunts - who come in and pull them away.”

Mr Lanigan said the victim of the assault had been taken to hospital, but had then signed himself out, and did not undergo surgery for his injury until a fortnight later.

“The last thing Mr Morrison had was an intention to cause significant harm,” he said.

“The intention was territorial – to frighten the other group away. It's rather pathetic, but it has gone on at that place for as long as I have practised in the area.”

Asking the sheriff to consider a non-custodial sentence, Mr Lanigan said: “No information is available that suggests Mr Morrison presents as a significant risk of serious harm.

“A lengthy supervision order, with a requirement to undertake unpaid work, and a restriction of liberty order might be appropriate, and he would be willing to comply with those conditions.”

But Sheriff Simon Pender told Morrison only a custodial sentence would be appropriate.

“It seems to me you are fortunate your pleas was accepted on the basis the offence was committed under provocation,” the sheriff said.

“It's plain that you and others went to the locus with the intention of causing provocation.”

Morrison's 18-month detention was reduced from two years in light of his early plea of guilty.