Scott Dunlop, 21, found himself trapped behind the wrought-iron riot gate at Stirling's district court after appearing to plead guilty to having an out-of-date tax disc.

At one point, bemused foreign visitors stopped to take his photograph, thinking he was an actor from Stirling's nearby tourist attraction, the 19th century Old Town Jail.

He was freed an hour-and-three-quarters, when a council caretaker arrived at the court with keys.

Mr Dunlop had already spent five hours in police custody after handing himself in at Central Scotland Police Headquarters in Stirling in answer to a warrant for his arrest on the tax disc charge.

Put in handcuffs

Speaking to a reporter while still behind bars at the court building, he said: "I hadn't realised the tax disc on my Peugeot 106 had run out, because the reminder had been sent to my home in Northern Ireland.

Mr Dunlop will receive an apology

"I phoned Central Scotland Police and handed myself in, as arranged, at 6.50 this morning.

"They took my watch and my belt in case I hanged myself, drove me to court in a police van, and led me across the street in handcuffs. I pled guilty and was fined �150.

"The police led me into a back room and gave me back my watch and belt and then I went to the bathroom.

"When I came back everybody had gone and the building was locked and barred."

Mr Dunlop said he managed to attract the attention of a resident across the road by rattling the bars, before wandering round the building and making himself comfortable in the justices' chambers.

"I phoned the police from the beak's own phone. It's a good thing I'm not a real criminal as I could have torched the place."

'Total farce'

Mr Dunlop, who has just sat his finals in hotel and catering management at the University of Dundee, added: "It's been a total farce.

"The woman I spoke to at the police station just laughed when I phoned her and told her I was locked in the court.

Stirling Council's Head of Legal Services, Peter Broadfoot, said the court clerk had been under the impression the building was empty when she left.

Mr Broadfoot said: "Stirling Council, which has responsibility for clerking the District Court, offers its sincerest apologies to Mr Dunlop for leaving him locked in the court building."