Knife thug jailed

Sep 17 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A THUG has been jailed after he stabbed a friend in the neck during a fight on a Whitburn street – over a bottle of Buckfast.

Ricky Stewart confronted his victim after being accused of nicking a bottle of tonic wine from a friend’s house.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard Stewart came at the complainer with a baseball bat but stabbed him in the throat after a knife turned-up during the fight.

The victim claimed that Stewart took the booze from a party and the victim had stolen aftershave and trainers from Stewart’s flat in a bid to get him to give it back.

But the man was left with a 1.5cm scar on his neck during a bloody bust-up outside Stewart’s home on May 19 this year.

Fiscal depute Marian Haig told the court how Stewart raced out of his home, arming himself with the baseball bat when he was confronted.

His solicitor, Alan Jackson, said that the victim took the bat from Stewart and hit him over the head and back with it before a knife appeared.

Miss Haig added: “A knife was seen in the hand of the accused and he lunged with it in the direction of the victim and he stabbed him in the neck.”

Horrified neighbours looked on as the complainer – along with the others – hurled bricks at Stewart’s window in retaliation.

The victim was raced to hospital where surgeons stitched his neck.

Miss Haig said that although the blade had never been found, it had been described as a four-inch kitchen knife.

Mr Jackson said that Stewart had been on “relatively friendly terms” with the complainer and the incident was unlikely to affect their relationship.

Mr Jackson added that Stewart had not taken the knife with him and that one of the other three people must have had it.

Sheriff Grahame Fleming sentenced Stewart, whose address was given as Edinburgh Prison, to 10-and-a-half months in jail.

He added: “I have to say that I am left with the impression that far too many people took the law into their own hands that night – that includes you.”