Teenager who stabbed man in botched drug deal jailed
A youth who stabbed a man in the heart after a drugs deal turned sour was jailed for seven years today.
A 17 year old who stabbed a man in the heart after a drugs deal turned sour was jailed for seven years today (17th March).
A court heard that the boy who attacked brothers and Peter and James Stewart had been "manipulated" into the operation by his uncle who is a serving prisoner.
A judge told the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, "You were convicted last month of an assault on James Stewart and much more seriously of an attempted murder of his brother Peter Stewart."
Lord Glennie said: "On the evidence which the jury must have accepted this was a vicious attack with a knife which you were carrying."
The judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: "I accept it was a single blow from you, but Mr Stewart could well have died."
He said: "I take account, particularly, of the fact you are still only 17 and have no relevant criminal record."
Lord Glennie said that but for those factors he would have been facing a much longer sentence.
The judge said a sentence of detention was inevitable, but added: "I am impressed by your intention to use the time in custody constructively. I hope it will keep you away from a criminal lifestyle in the future.
The teenager, who was 16 at the time, had attacked his victims at an address in Wardieburn Street West, in Edinburgh, on April 8 last year after the brothers had driven down to the housing estate with £6500 in cash planning to buy cannabis before ferrying the drugs back to Aberdeen.