A KILMARNOCK man who kicked off during an aggressive drunken incident on Christmas Day has narrowly avoided being sent to prison.

Brett Pilling was sentenced at the town's sheriff court after admitting behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at an address in Galston.

Court documents describe how the Graithnock Drive resident repeatedly shouted, swore, acted in an aggressive manner and threw household items and cans around the property during this incident.

The offence was aggravated because it involved Pilling's partner.

Gillian Swanney, defending, said the 38-year-old and his partner had been in a relationship for around 10 years, and that the incident happened after Pilling got a phone call telling him of the death of a family member.

She told Sheriff Sheena Fraser: "He took that news particularly badly and turned to consuming alcohol.

"It would seem that alcohol has been something of a difficulty for him, especially when he gets stressed.

"He accepts that this [incident] was entirely of his own making. He has not had a drink since this offence."

The solicitor also said that although Pilling had previous convictions for domestic matters, there had been a significant gap in his offending.

Sheriff Fraser said: “I am persuaded that there is an alternative to a custodial sentence here."

She then placed the 38-year-old on a community payback order with 12 months of social work supervision and ordered him to complete 100 hours of unpaid work during the same time period.

A 'conduct requirement' was also imposed requiring Pilling to engage with alcohol services throughout the duration of the order.

Sheriff Fraser added: “Should you breach any part of those conditions, you will be called back to this court, we will revoke the order, and send you to prison.”