A violent criminal was today found guilty of trying to murder a man once known as one of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners and his family after they attended a charity fundraising event.
Matthew Boyle, 42, knifed John Gallagher, 64, his wife Sylvia, 55, and their 30-year-old daughter Charlie during the attack outside the Broadsword Bar in Aberdeen on August 30.
The couple had travelled from their home in the Highlands to visit their daughter and Mrs Gallagher had arranged to meet friends at a reunion night held at the city pub.
But they were assaulted by Boyle in the car park as they were making their way home from the charity fundraiser in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Gallagher was attacked after defending his daughter from a “vulgar” comment made by Kevin Deans, one of Boyle’s friends, outside the bar.
Mr Gallagher was then knifed in the side by Boyle, stabbed through his ear and left with a punctured lung.
The scrap metal firm operations manager still receives treatment and his left eye is unable to close because of nerve damage.
Deans initially faced the same charges but was cleared of the allegations halfway through the trial at the High Court in Aberdeen this week.
Today he was found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by making an indecent remark to Charlie Gallagher. But the Crown decided not to move for sentence and he was told he was free to leave the dock.
Mr Gallagher, a former high security inmate involved in one of the 1980s Peterhead Prison riots, said he was disgusted by the comment made to his youngest daughter while giving evidence to the jury.
He told the court: “He was trying to draw the attention of my daughter and eventually did and then he started being foul mouthed and filthy with her.
“I told him to get home and get a big bar of soap to wash his mouth out.”
He said the two men eventually ran from the scene but Boyle returned with a knife and stabbed him along with his wife and daughter, who were all taken to hospital shortly afterwards.
While recalling the night his family came under attack, Mr Gallagher at one point stared boldly at Boyle sitting in the dock and branded him a “coward”.
It emerged during the trial that police officers accidentally stumbled on evidence which helped nail the family’s attacker.
In an unusual twist, they turned up at the front entrance of Boyle’s block of flats to hear the criminal discussing the stabbing on the intercom.
Pub revellers had identified him as a possible suspect leading officers investigating the brutal crime to his Portal Crescent flat.
Two officers listening at the intercom speaker heard the thug say: “She deserved what she got. She’s a dirty whore. “You’re going to get lifted and I’m going to get lifted.
“I can’t believe this happened mate.”
Constable Derek Mckay said only one man, who he identified as Boyle, was talking while the other was making agreeing noises.
Graphic images of the family’s stab wounds were shown to the jury.
Jurors were told that Mrs Gallagher was initially diagnosed with a chest injury at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
But she was admitted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness a few days after she was discharged and informed she had fluid in her lungs.
The mother explained to the jury that doctors had warned that she would only have lived for a further six hours if she had not sought medical help.
Mrs Gallagher had a drain inserted to remove blood from the organ.
Boyle, who lodged a special defence of self defence, was cleared of making an indecent comment towards Miss Gallagher. Drug charges against the two men were also withdrawn.
The court heard he had been convicted of a similar serious assault at a high court in August 1990.
Since then he had been prosecuted for several charges of violence and dishonesty.
Judge Lord Burns deferred sentence until September 9th at the High Court in Glasgow for background reports and said he would consider whether to impose an extended sentence to protect the public.
Following the hearing Mrs Gallagher said the family had taken a long time to recover from their ordeal. She said: “For the first few months our health was really bad.
“I could hardly breathe – I’m still on inhalers. I still can’t do too much because I get out of breath. I’ve to go back to the hospital on the 12th for an X-ray and scan.
“We are getting better.”
Her husband, who now mentors prisoners on a Self Management Recovery Training (SMART) programme, said he was not sure that his attacker could ever be rehabilitated while in prison.
Mr Gallagher said: “I don’t think anyone can do anything for him. I think he’s just too far gone.”
