Schoolboy who stabbed a man in a frenzied attack in North Lanarkshire, detained

A schoolboy who knifed a man 30 times in a frenzied murder bid after a row about Loyalist songs was detained for six years. The 17-year-old from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed John Higgins, 38, attacked him first. The teenager, who was 15 at the time of the murder bid, but who is now 17, claimed he acted in self-defence because he thought Mr Higgins was going to kill his co-accused Steven Elliot. The brutal attack took place at a house in Plains, North Lanarkshire, in December 2016.

A jury convicted the teenager of attempted murder and also assaulting Mr Higgins' nephew, Patrick McCluskey, and stabbing Mr McCluskey's then girlfriend, Erin Rodger, in the thigh after they went to his aid. Co-accused, Elliott, 22, a former soldier, who served in the Scots guards for four years, was cleared of attempted murder. He was found guilty of a reduced charge of assaulting Mr Higgins to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life by repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body.

He was also convicted of assaulting Mr McCluskey but was cleared of the knife attack on Miss Rodger and jailed for three years. Passing sentence at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday (Tues) judge Lord Beckett said to him: "I give you credit for your military service albeit relatively brief and your having found work thereafter."

He added "You both set about a man who was too drunk and incapable of defending himself. I did not accept (teenager's) evidence that Mr Higgins may have had a small blade.

"That's refuted by Mr Higgins whose evidence I accepted."

The judge told the teenager: "You were 15 when you attempted to murder Mr Higgins, you are still just 17."

During the trial, the teenager accepted he was solely responsible for inflicting four knife wounds to Mr Higgins' back and a further 23 to his legs.

Elliot told the jury that he did not have a knife at any stage.

Mr Higgins told the court he was "stabbed from head to toe" after being invited into Elliott's house to have a can of beer.

The injuries left him crippled.

His jaw was "caved in" as a result of the ferocious attack and he had to have metal plates screwed in to rebuild it.

Mr Higgins said he was unable to recall what his attackers.

But he told the jury: "I'm sure one of them had a Rangers top on. It was a red football top."

The jury saw dramatic CCTV footage of the running street battle outside Elliott's house several times during the seven-day trial.

Defence counsel Tony Lenehan said his client had a good work record and asked the judge to take account of the jury’s verdict that Mr Elliot didn’t use a weapon.

Geoffrey Forbes, for the 17-year-old, said: “Through me he seeks to apologise to Mr Higgins, Erin Rodger and Patrick McCluskey.”

He said the teenager has expressed “empathy and insight”.