A JOHNSTONE man refused to do unpaid work as part of a punishment order because of what he perceived as corruption in the justice system, a court has heard.

Mark Quigley, of Ryefield Avenue, was placed on Community Payback Orders for two cases but failed to do unpaid work.

The orders were imposed after the 26-year-old was convicted of battering a man in a brutal Glasgow street attack and then hurling foul-mouthed abuse at police officers in Paisley.

But he refused to engage fully with the orders and found himself back in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last week to be sentenced for breaching them.

Defence solicitor Stephen Grady said Quigley had been told there was a plot to kill him - and had refused to do unpaid work amid claims he and other criminals were effectively being sold by people who set up work placements as part of Community Payback Orders.

The lawyer explained: “The threats on his life are very real. He received an Osman warning. He was set fire to at his own front door and in prison, when he was on remand, there were two attempts on his life.

“Those involved in organising the unpaid work placements were taking men out to farms and being paid by the owners of these farms for, effectively, cheap labour.

“Mr Quigley made a complaint about that. He advises me both men have been sacked as a result and that it is local knowledge.

“He was not prepared to be part of this man’s money-making enterprise with people who are supposed to be serving sentences.

“There is a very real threat to his life and existence at this time.”

Sheriff Tom McCartney revoked the order that was imposed for a September 2010 attack on a man in Glasgow and admonished Quigley.

He also revoked the Paisley order, which was imposed for a rant in the town in August 2014, instead placing Quigley on a Restriction of Liberty Order, which is a form of house arrest, as a direct alternative to a period of imprisonment.

As he did so, Sheriff McCartney told him: “You are required to be in your home address from 7pm each evening to 7am the following morning, for a period of three months.

“You will wear a tagging device.

“Any tampering with that device will be detected and reported to the court and the court can revoke the order and deal with the case in a different way, which could be a sentence of imprisonment at that time.”

Commenting on the allegations made in court, a Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “This information previously came to our attention in September 2015, resulting in an investigation which was carried out in line with council policy.

“The historical allegations made in court were not substantiated by the investigation conducted at that time.

“Monitoring processes are in place to ensure unpaid work is carried out as required.

“Any such investigation would not impact negatively on service users and their completion of unpaid work orders.”

Police issue ‘Osman warning’ letters when there is intelligence of a threat to someone’s life but not enough evidence to justify the police arresting the possible offender.

They are named after London businessman Ali Osman, who was murdered by Paul Paget-Lewis, a teacher at his son Ahmet’s school, in 1988.

Courts heard Paget-Lewis had formed a “disturbing” attachment to Ahmet and, at one point, told police he was considering committing a massacre.

In March 1988, he stole a gun, killed Mr Osman and shot and seriously injured Ahmet.

In 1998, the Osman family successfully argued in the European Court of Human Rights that the Metropolitan Police had breached Mr Osman’s right to life because it had all the information it needed to deal with the threat.

It was a significant ruling which led to a police review on how they assessed risks and the formal Osman warning letters being introduced.