Son beat up mum’s pal in cigarette row

Jail warning after he attacked woman in her home

A son has been warned to keep out of trouble after he battered his ill mum’s pal in a row over cigarettes.

Christopher McDowall, 28, pummelled April McNaughton, 39, after she ignored his demands to stop supplying his mum with ciggies because she was a lung patient.

He marched round to Ms McNaughton’s home after sending her a Facebook message warning: “Stop giving my mum fags.”

The thug has been given a chance to stay out of jail, after admitting assault at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Tom McCartney warned he will be locked up if he cannot keep his nose clean.

He said: “There’s enough before me to suggest just sending you to prison. “But that isn’t the only solution. “I’m going to defer sentencing for a period of three months for you to be of good behaviour.

“I will ask the procurator fiscal to report to me to ensure there is no further offending.

“That will be important in how this will be dealt with.”

McDowall attacked his victim in her own home after confronting her online.

The thug sparked an argument after bawling: “I told you not to give my mum any smokes.”

He then rained down blows on her head and body as she tried to defend herself.

McDowall legged it and she cleaned herself up in the bathroom at her home in Erskine’s Port Soy.

A pal later convinced her to call the police. Prosecutor David McDonald told how he stormed into her house before pouncing last August 4.

He said: “Ms McNaughton was at home, sitting on the couch, watching television, and spotted McDowall standing in the doorway of her living room.”

McDowall took to social media to tell the woman to stop dropping cigarettes in to his COPD sufferer mum Shona Young, 47.

Her condition causes breathing difficulties and is common in those who smoke.

Ms McNaughton regularly visited her friend to take her groceries and medicine.

Mr McDonald added: “He asked his mother where she got them and she said April McNaughton had been in.”

The yob lied to cops when he was arrested and claimed he had been at his mum’s before getting a taxi to Renfrew.

He had been accused of knifing the woman and sending her threatening Facebook messages.

But these charges were dropped.

Defence lawyer David Tod had admitted his client was already being monitored by the court when he lashed out.

McDowall, of Todholm Terrace, Paisley, has been ordered to return for a review on January 25.