Glasgow man who stabbed four strangers sent to Carstairs

A judge has ordered a man who stabbed four strangers over a three day period to be detained at a high security psychiatric institution.

50 year-old Edward Coyle targeted a supermarket worker, a student, a project manager and a cleaner in Glasgow in March last year.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Mr Coyle suffers from a serious mental illness and needs specialist medical care.

A consultant psychiatrist told judge Lord Armstrong that Coyle needed to be treated at the State Hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire.

Dr Prathima Apurva told the court that there would be a risk of Coyle attacking other people if he were sent to a mainstream prison.

Lord Armstrong then passed an order compelling Coyle to receive medical treatment for his health.

He also passed a separate order which compels Coyle to be detained at the psychiatric mental health institution.

The judge then told Coyle that sending him to the State Hospital was the most appropriate sentence available to him.

He added: "You have been convicted of a number of serious crimes. I accept the information which been set out in the reports and the oral evidence of Doctor Apurva.

"It is my conclusion that I should impose a restriction order as well as compulsion order."

Coyle, of Gorbals, Glasgow, denied all wrongdoing but was convicted of two counts of attempted murder and two of assault earlier this year.

A judge ordered him held at Carstairs state mental hospital whilst doctors there assessed his health.

During proceedings, the court heard how Coyle stabbed Alberto Sanchez, 29, in the arm on March 15 last year as the victim headed to work in a supermarket in the Gorbals.

Alberto told the trial he was left standing in "a puddle of blood".

Hours later, Coyle assaulted student Fiona Robertson, 22, near the Merchant City. She wept as she told how she fought him off but was left with holes in her clothes.

That evening, project manager Paul Sweeney, 44, was walking to his car in the Gorbals when Coyle came at him "with some purpose" and knifed him in the chest.

Paul said he shouted at him: "You stabbed me, you b*d!" Coyle struck again on March 17, stabbing cleaner Margaret Campbell, 58, six times as she walked to her cleaning job in the Gorbals in the early hours.

Margaret gasped, "Oh my God!" as the thug attacked her on a deserted industrial estate. She suffered a punctured lung and was off work for eight months.

Coyle was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of attempting to murder Margaret and Paul and assaulting Alberto and Fiona.

On Tuesday, Dr Apurva,40, told the court that she had been assessing Coyle since he was admitted to Carstairs following the end of his trial.

She said that he had a serious mental illness and that he still posed a risk to public safety.

Dr Apurva said that Coyle's condition meant he was unsuitable to be sent to a mainstream prison.

She added: "There is a risk of this happening again in a prison sentencing.

"He will not be able to benefit from specialist nursing in a prison setting. It is my opinion that he requires to be detained in the State Hospital."

Dr Apurva told defence advocate Paul Nelson that his client's condition had improved since being admitted to Carstairs.

She added: "It is marginally better."

Mr Nelson told the court that it would be in his client's best interests if he were sent to Carstairs.

Lord Armstrong agreed.

He added: "It is appropriate that you continue to be held and treated in the institution that you are currently in.