A SHERIFF urged a young man to make the most of his twenties as he opted against extending his current prison sentence.

Ronald Mitchell is currently serving a 13-month prison sentence, but appeared at Alloa Sheriff Court last Thursday after unleashing a vicious assault on another man last year.

Lindsay Brooks, depute fiscal, told the court that there was a difficult background between Mitchell and the complainer after Mitchell accused the man of stealing a cigarette from him.

On September 14 last year at around 5.40pm the complainer arrived at Pine Grove and was walking up a stairwell to his flat, having to walk past Mitchell's flat in the process.

As he went up he heard Mitchell's door open and saw him walking behind him.

Mitchell then accused the complainer of "being cheeky" before "repeatedly punching him to the head causing him to fall and drop his takeaway".

Once on the ground, Mitchell continued to punch the man on the head before walking away as the complainer went to a payphone to call police.

Officers arrived and observed the complainer with injuries to his face and contacted the council to see CCTV footage which picked up the assault.

Larissa Milligan, defending the 21-year-old, told the court that there is "bad feeling" between the two men, adding that Mitchell had accused the complainer of assaulting his girlfriend.

Ms Milligan said Mitchell "accepts he lost his temper" and is due to be released next Friday and will begin a supervised release order.

Sheriff Simon Collins told Mitchell: "You're 21, you can spend your whole 20s in a cell if you carry on this way; you don't get them back. I'm giving you a chance."

He sentenced Mitchell, of Pine Grove, Alloa, to 200 hours unpaid work and 12 months of supervision.