Drunken James Reid shouted, swore and threatened violence after being found lying drunk on the floor of the Oak Mall on 30 December.

Sixty-five-year-old Reid’s case was unusually called in a cell beneath Greenock Sheriff Court on New Year’s Eve, after it was discovered that he had soiled himself.

Prosecutor Pamela Brady told the hearing: “The accused was found lying in a doorway of the shopping centre when police arrived at around 4.50pm.

“He had threatened to stab a security guard and told the man that he would ‘stick a dagger’ in him whilst in the presence of shoppers.

“The accused shouted and swore at police and was taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital where he spat twice on a male nurse.” Reid was jailed for 10 years at the High Court in 2003 for killing his friend James Orr with a knife in Port Glasgow.

His vicious blade attack penetrated Mr Orr’s lungs three times.

He left his 52-year-old victim’s body in a flat at Robert Street in Clune Park for a number of days before dragging the corpse downstairs into a common close and fleeing to Perth.

But neighbours had seen him hauling the dead man along the ground, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

Reid had earlier drunkenly told benefits staff what he’d done when he went to sign-on, but they didn’t take him seriously.

However, the police were notified by the DSS workers after Reid persisted with his account.

The Greenock Telegraph previously told how Reid was jailed for four months for making ‘dagger’ threats towards police.

A court document relating to his latest offences states that he told officers that he had soiled himself following his arrest.

The official paper says that he told PCs: “I’ll do what I like.

“You’ll have to clean it up.” Reid, of Greenock’s Sir Michael Street, pled guilty via defence lawyer Aidan Gallagher to conducting himself in a disorderly manner, shouting, swearing, threatening to stab a security guard and spitting on the nurse.

Sheriff Derek Hamilton jailed him for six months.