A ROSYTH man broke bail conditions and failed to appear at court as he was worried about fears for his safety after giving evidence in a murder trial.

Liam McIlduff, 24, of Elder Place, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing for a string of offences.

Between December 23 and 26, he broke bail conditions which said he had to stay at his home between 7pm and 7am and answer his door if requested to do so by police officers as he failed to present himself at the door to various police officers when requested.

He committed the same offence on December 29 when he failed to answer door to police officers.

He failed to appear at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on January 4 and, as a result, also broke a bail condition.

On December 2, he broke a bail condition which said not to contact his former partner when he was in her company in his home without reasonable excuse.

On the same date, he resisted, obstructed or hindered police officers in the execution of their duty and tensed his arms and struggled with police officers.

He assaulted a woman by pushing her in the face

On September 16, he assaulted a woman by pushing her in the face at his Elder Place home while on September 19, he broke bail conditions that he did not approach the woman by being in her company on Queensferry Road, Rosyth.

He was also sentenced for a robbery offence from 2014 in which he stole a mobile phone and had previously been placed on a restriction of liberty order which had been breached.

Defence solicitor James Moncrieff said the breaches of bail and failures to appear all had the same reason.

"Mr McIlduff was due to give evidence in the High Court in January and that was for a well publicised murder trial," he told the Court. "Evidence he was to give related to a conversation he had overheard in custody.

"Because of the fact that he was due to be a crown witness, there were certain threats against Mr McIlduff. He had been locking himself in his flat and only answering the door to his mother who was bringing him food. He has certain mental health difficulties and these were exacerbated by the position he was in.

"He also failed to attend court but the background was the same. He cut himself off from the outside world."

Sheriff Charles Macnair said he was satisfied that McIlduff posed a "significant risk to the public" and jailed him for 17 months and 20 days to run consecutively to a sentence he is currently serving.

After the completing the sentence, he will be subject to a supervised release order for a period of four and a half months.