A drink driver who crashed into two parked cars, ran off, then reported his own car stolen is facing jail.

Stephen Brown, 27, piled his five-year-old Seat into a parked high-performance Mercedes coupe and a Citroen while nearly five times the drink-driving limit.

A court heard that residents in Gillies Drive, Stirling, where the accident happened, were woken by "a series of loud bangs" at 12.30am.

They looked out to see two cars belonging to people in the street, one of them the Mercedes C220 Cdi Se Auto Coupe, had been badly damaged by the Seat Leon which had ploughed into them.

Prosecutor Lindsey Brooks said that as the horrified residents watched, they saw a man, who turned out to be Brown, get out and run away.

Police were called and found the Seat abandoned, with its airbags deployed.

Mrs Brooks said: "The driver's door was wide open, and there was loud music playing, but the driver was nowhere to be seen."

All three vehicles had sustained "significant damage", and in the case of the Seat the impact was to its front end.

A registration check showed the Seat belonged to Brown, and officers set off in the direction of his home, which was not far away.

Before they got there, they were flagged down by Brown, who told them he had just had a text from "a friend" saying he had taken his car and crashed it.

Mrs Brooks said: "The officers noticed that Mr Brown fitted the description of the driver given by the witnesses, and also that he smelled strongly of alcohol.

"Mr Brown gave a description of his 'friend' which was different from that of the driver. The police then took him home, and he failed to produce his mobile phone which he had said had the text on it."

He was detained and replied: "Why am I being arrested when I was in bed all night?"

He later gave a breath sample which contained 100 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres, over four and a half times the legal limit.

Unmarried Brown, a furniture fitter, of Lamberton Avenue, Stirling, pleaded guilty at the city's Sheriff Court last Friday to drink-driving, careless driving, failing to remain at the scene after an accident, and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The incident occurred on October 12, 2015.

Gordon Murphy, defending, said Brown claimed he had not had a drink for nearly 20 hours before the accident, but accepted that had been drinking heavily before that.

Mr Murphy said: "He had been up at his granny's, was returning home, misjudged the corner, and crashed the car.

"He then had something to drink from a bottle of vodka and was returning to the scene when he saw the police car and flagged them down.

"He said he was going to confess to his misdemeanours, but when it came to it he didn't do so."

The court heard Brown had previous convictions for drink-driving and careless driving.

A victim impact statement from the owner of the Mercedes was handed to the sheriff.

Deferring sentence for reports, including as assessment of Brown's ability to carry out paid work as an alternative to custody, Sheriff Gillian Wade QC told Brown he could expect a disqualification of at least three years, together with other punishment.

She observed: "I'm not going to dispose of this by way of a fine."