Passengers were forced to tackle a violent offender after he attacked a train conductor just hours after his early release from prison.
Scott Miller, 29, drunkenly turned on the female ScotRail employee as he made his way to his mother’s home in Inverness.
He had served just a quarter of a near 18-month sentence for assault, despite having used a knife to severely injure his victim.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that he had become unpleasant to steward Aileen Scott, 42, during the journey north and had attacked her, to the horror of others on the train.
He had been warned about his behaviour but continued to shout and swear at her, before lunging at Ms Scott and grabbing her by the throat.
“Other passengers were sufficiently shocked that they took hold of the accused, restrained him and put him to the ground,” said depute fiscal Robbie Brown.
“When the train arrived in Pitlochry, it was met by the police and he was apprehended.”
Miller, of Warwick, East Kilbride, admitted attacking Ms Scott on the train on November 18 by grabbing her by the throat to her injury.
Defence solicitor Sandy Morrison said his client accepted he had committed “a fairly spectacular breach of his licence” and was “disgusted” with his behaviour.
Sheriff Marion McDonald sentenced him to a total of 12 months, eight months of the earlier, unexpired sentence and four months for the train incident.