A DOTING son whose mum was diagnosed with lung disease attacked her friend after finding out she had been giving her cigarettes.

Christopher McDowall flipped when he was told April McNaughton had been supplying his mum Shona Young with tobacco, despite the fact she had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that McDowall, 28, messaged Miss McNaughton via Facebook to tell her this was not acceptable.

When he later learned the same thing had happened again, he launched a savage attack on Miss McNaughton.

The details emerged last week when McDowall appeared in the dock to plead guilty over his actions.

He had been accused of assaulting 39-year-old Miss McNaughton with a knife and leaving her scarred.

However, he admitted a reduced charge which saw the knife claims deleted and a separate charge that he had sent her messages which threatened her with violence also being dropped.

Procurator fiscal depute David McDonald told the court Miss McNaughton received a message from McDowall’s Facebook account which read ‘stop giving my mum fags’.

It was stated that around two weeks later, in August 2017, McDowall found cigarettes at his mum’s home and, when he asked where she had got them from, she told him Miss McNaughton had called round.

McDowall then went to Miss McNaughton’s home in Port Soy, Erskine, and attacked her.

Defence solicitor David Tod said McDowall, formerly of Renfrew but now of Todholm Terrace, Paisley, was already on a Community Payback Order imposed in another case and was doing “very, very well.”

Sheriff Tom McCartney called for background reports, with McDowall to be sentenced next month.