AN EARLY-RELEASE prisoner went to the Dunfermline home of a complete stranger in the middle of the night and caused a disturbance.

Drug-crazed William Marshall was banging on the door of a terrified woman who lives on her own.

William Marshall, 35, had only been out of jail for a day when he was back in trouble and he has now been sentenced at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on November 24, at an address in Dunfermline, he behaved in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, repeatedly banging on doors and windows, shouted through a letter-box, demanded drugs and damaged a door by scratching it with an implement.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said: “The complainer is a woman who lives on her own. She was in bed when at 3.50am, she heard a knock at her door.

“She thought maybe it was her daughter calling at her house after work. She went to the door and asked who it was.

“She heard a male’s voice saying: ‘It’s Willie. Open the door. I’m looking for Xanax’.

“She was shocked and told him to go away. The accused continued to shout, asking for Xanax. He opened the letter-box and was shouting through it repeatedly. He was also trying the door handle then began banging on the door.

“The complainer was frightened. She then heard scraping on the door and thought he was trying to force entry.”

The woman phoned the police and they found Marshall 50 yards from her home.

The court was told Marshall had been released from jail the day before, had gone to live at his cousin’s home in Bute Crescent and had been drinking and taking drugs. As a result of taking pills, he was unable to remember anything about the incident.

Sheriff Charles MacNair told Marshall: “You had just come out of jail and you decided to take drugs. You then caused what must have been considerable alarm to a woman living on her own.

“You also made significant efforts to get in and that must have been extremely frightening for the woman.”

The sheriff sent Marshall back to prison for 238 days.