Aberdeen man jailed over hammer attack

An Aberdeen man who savagely attacked a sex worker with a claw hammer leaving her pleading for her life has been jailed for five years.

Stuart Marley had earlier agreed to pay the 30-year-old woman £80 for sexual acts before returning hours later promising her "a surprise" before launching the brutal assault and robbing her of cash.

During the attack the shocked and frightened victim begged him to stop and urged him not to kill her as she had a child, who was in the flat.

Marley, 23, threatened to return and kill her if she told anyone what had happened to her, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

A judge told him: "Your horrific attack on this woman had the obvious potential to endanger her life."

Lady Wise told the student that he had admitted "a very serious charge" and added: "Her young son, who was less than three years old, was present in the home."

The judge said that having misled the victim into thinking he had a surprise for her he produced the claw hammer from behind his back and attacked her.

Lady Wise told Marley that he would have been jailed for seven and a half years but for his early guilty plea to the offence.

Marley earlier admitted assaulting the woman on May 6 this year at a flat in Aberdeen by repeatedly striking her on the head and body with a hammer to her severe injury and the danger of her life and robbing her of a purse and money.

The court heard that unemployed Marley, from Aberdeen, but who is currently a prisoner in Grampian jail, has previous convictions for violence which resulted in two years detention for robbery in 2012 and a 137 day restriction of liberty order in 2015 for serious assault.

Advocate depute Alan Cameron told the court that his latest victim had placed an online advert for escort and massage services on May 5.

In the early hours of the following day she was contacted by Marley who she did not previously know. He asked to meet her and she gave him directions to the flat where she was living temporarily.

Mr Cameron said: "When he arrived he indicated he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her and she refused."

"He initially appeared angry at that but she indicated that she would perform other sexual acts for pounds 80 and he agreed. After they had done this the accused left and no mention was made of contacting the victim again," he said.

But later that day Marley phoned her three times. She did not recognise his voice but told him she was not available and when he said during one call that he was coming round for sex she advised him to look elsewhere.

She later heard knocking at the door and when she answered realised that Marley had been the man making the calls.

Her young child was asleep in the living room and she took the caller into a bedroom. Marley had a bag of clothes in one hand and an envelope in the other.

Mr Cameron said: "He told her that he had a surprise for her, handed her the envelope and told her to open it. She did so and found it contained another envelope which he also told her to open."

The prosecutor said: "As she was doing so he produced a claw hammer from behind his back and struck her a number of times on the head with it."

"She was shocked and scared and tried to defend herself with her hands. He continued to strike her on the arm and head with the hammer as she begged him to stop," said Mr Cameron.

The victim said she had money and told him it was in the living room. As she looked for her purse Marley told her she better not be lying or he would kill her. The woman handed over her purse containing cards and about £270.

Mr Cameron said: "The accused then struck her a few more times on the head with the hammer. She begged him not to kill her as she had a child."

After threatening that he would kill her if she revealed what had occurred to anyone Marley left the flat.

The woman contacted a relative who phoned for an ambulance. She was taken to hospital and a CT scan revealed fragments of bone at the front and back of her head consistent with outer skull fractures.

Mr Cameron said the injuries she sustained were not actually life threatening but an assault of the type perpetrated by Marley had "the obvious potential to endanger the complainer's life".

The woman later identified her attacker from photos and Marley was arrested and gave a "no comment" interview to police.

Defence counsel Leigh Lawrie said Marley had moved from Elgin, in Morayshire, to Aberdeen, to take a music course and hoped to work in the industry as a session musician or studio technician.

She said: "He struggles to explain exactly what he was thinking or feeling a the time of the offence."

She told the court that he drank about 12 cans of lager and was smoking herbal cannabis following his initial visit to the woman.

She said the daily cannabis user "feels absolute disgust and as ashamed of himself" following the crime.