A TEENAGER was caught with a lockback blade tucked into his sock just over a month after being released from his latest jail term.

Robert Ferrier, 19 — who has a catalogue of convictions — was spotted with the potential weapon in the Oak Mall shopping centre in the middle of the afternoon.

Police moved in quickly and arrested him in nearby Clyde Square just minutes after being alerted by a sharp-eyed shopping centre security guard.

Ferrier swore as he made a remark referring to his recent spell in detention, adding: "I'm going to jail for years."

Prosecutor Emma Jeffrey told Greenock Sheriff Court: "From his left sock officers recovered a black and blue-handled lockback knife with a nine centimetre blade."

The Telegraph told last November how Ferrier was arrested for an identical offence after two alarmed schoolgirls saw him with a lockback knife, again after a spell in jail.

He had the blade in the a back pocket of his trousers on West Stewart Street when the females, aged 14 and 15, witnessed him boasting about it.

Ferrier had just been freed from detention the previous day having been convicted of tormenting staff at a homeless centre, from which he was subsequently barred.

He was warned by a sheriff last August how he was warned by a sheriff that he could have been facing seven years in jail after racking up a catalogue of convictions.

Lawman Derek Hamilton kept a number of convictions 'waiting in the wings' and told Ferrier that they would 'come back to bite big style' if he didn't change his ways.

Regarding Ferrier's latest conviction, lawyer Aidan Gallagher said: "Mr Ferrier remains only 19 years of age, so a background report will be required and I will reserve anything I have to say."

Ferrier, previously of Murdieston Street, was released from jail on May 11 and was caught with the knife on June 17.

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre deferred sentence until October 9 and remanded him in custody.