AN EVIL Gourock teenager told a sheriff 'I hope you die in your sleep tonight' as he was locked up for carrying a knife.

Ross Morgan, 19, was furious at being handed a prison sentence for hiding the seven-inch weapon inside his trainer in a 'sinister' attempt to sneak it into Greenock Sheriff Court.

As he was led away into custody Morgan also shouted 'I hope you get AIDS and die' at a court social worker.

Morgan will now serve two years and four months for the serious weapon offence.

He had told security officers who discovered the knife last June that he 'didn't even know it was there'.

But a jury swiftly returned a unanimous guilty verdict when he stood trial.

When Morgan appeared from custody for sentencing, he was told by Sheriff Derek Hamilton, pictured,: "To bring a knife into a sheriff court building strikes at the very heart of the judicial system.

"Your offence is all the more sinister because you secreted the knife within a shoe where it would not be easily found.

"Your explanation - that you had placed it there and simply forgotten about it - was one the jury had no difficulty in rejecting and you were found guilty by a unanimous verdict after only 15 minutes."

Morgan's trial had previously been adjourned twice over concerns about the state of his mental health.

Solicitor Frank McCaig called for a non-custodial disposal to be delivered, urging Sheriff Hamilton to show 'compassion' and deliver 'imaginative' sentencing.

He added: "Being in custody is having a negative effect on his mental health. It will be obvious to your lordship that it's your lordship who can give him the option of professional help and support."

But this was dismissed by Sheriff Hamilton, inset, who told Morgan: "During the proceedings reference was made to your mental health and to you having suicidal ideation.

"This has again been raised today.

"I note, however, from the criminal justice social work report there was no truly independent evidence to support that view.

"Your GP and the prison authorities did not consider the issue to be significant."

Morgan, of Gourock's Cove Road, was also sentenced for stealing alcohol from the Co-op supermarket in Gourock on 4 August last year.

He will serve a total of two years and four months at a young offenders' institute.