A DRUG addict who smashed a window at a Dunfermline hostel after being told he was being temporarily excluded has been jailed for four months.

Michael Prain, 32, of no fixed abode, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court after previously admitting that on September 3 at the James Bank Hostel, he did without reasonable excuse, wilfully or recklessly destroy or damage the property belonging to another when he broke a window by repeatedly kicking it and throwing a metal ashtray at it.

Depute Fiscal Ms Rennie said Prain had caused a disturbance and been banned for a period of time. He later returned and caused another minor disturbance within his room and as a result, was excluded for 24 hours although he left before this was communicated to him.

At around 6pm, he returned and was told by the security guard that he was not allowed back. Prain then began kicking repeatedly the window pane and picked up a metal ash tray from outside and threw it at the window, breaking it in several places.

Defence solicitor Jonathan Matheson-Dear said his client was a long standing drug addict on a methadone programme and had been finding it increasingly difficult.

"He had been drinking excessively and has no recollection of the incident," he said. "He had been finding it difficult to recover all his property, that was why he became angry. He accepts he shouldn't have done what he did.

"He had previously been resident at the James Bank Hostel and even after this incident, they were willing to accommodate him and have him back, despite his behaviour, having recognised that he was making some progress."

Sheriff Alastair Thornton said Prain had a "pretty lengthy record" with regular offending.

"It seems to me that this is a further incident of frankly unacceptable behaviour," he told him. "On that basis, I cannot see an alternative to a custodial sentence."