Keven Hamilton attacked the eight-year-old - who can’t be named for legal reasons - last year. Paisley Sheriff Court heard that the 32-year-old smacked the schoolkid on the leg on December 29, 2013. Hamilton was also accused of kicking the youngster on the body, but prosecutors dropped the charge. Soon after the incident he was arrested by cops probing the assault and was held in police custody before appearing in court. When he appeared before Sheriff James Spy on Friday, January 3 this year, he initially pleaded not guilty and was released on bail with the special condition that he was banned from living in his own home. He had to move in with his father in Linwood’s Richmond Drive while the court case was hanging over him. And when he appeared in the dock last week it emerged that he had since moved to a flat in Paisley’s Main Road.

Sheriff Robert Fife called for social workers to assess Hamilton ahead of sentencing and continued his bail. Hamilton will return to the dock later this month.