Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Man stabbed in back with kitchen knife in brutal Inverness street attack

Liverpudlian William Smith, 23, has now admitted the assault, which caused his victim to lose four litres of blood and spend a month in hospital.

Police at the scene of the stabbing in Esk Road, Inverness. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson.
Police at the scene of the stabbing in Esk Road, Inverness. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson.

An armed attacker inflicted a life-threatening injury on a man after stabbing him in the back with a large kitchen knife in Inverness.

William Smith, 23, had earlier clashed with his victim on the phone during an abusive call before launching the brutal assault.

His victim suffered a collapsed lung and spent a month in hospital following the assault.

Advocate depute Greg Farrell told the High Court in Edinburgh today: “The initial injury from the stab wound to the left chest was immediately life-threatening due to blood loss and pneumothorax.”

Smith, of no fixed abode, admitted assaulting the victim to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life on July 28 last year at Esk Road, Inverness, by striking him on the body with a knife.

The court heard that the Liverpudlian has previous convictions for knife possession, battery, possession of an imitation gun and road traffic offences.

‘Are you the Scouser?’

Mr Farrell said the assault victim was at a grass area between Old Town Road and Esk Road when the broad daylight attack took place.

The prosecutor said that earlier in the day the victim had been drinking with a friend. He later went with others to an address with the intention of sourcing drugs but a row broke out over the purchase of crack cocaine before they left.

Mr Farrell said: “On leaving the area, [the complainer] received a phone call from a number he did not recognise.”

He answered the call and Smith asked him if he had been trying to carry out a robbery during the earlier incident.

The advocate depute told the court: “The complainer and the accused were verbally abusive to each other during this phone call.”

The complainer was later at the grassy area when he saw Smith approaching with an unknown male and shouted: “Are you the Scouser?”

Police at the scene of the brutal stabbing. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson.

He ran towards Smith with a bottle in his hand and an argument broke out between the pair. They circled a parked car before the complainer threw the bottle, which missed Smith.

The prosecutor said: “At this juncture, the accused had a large kitchen knife with a black handle.

“[The complainer] turned from the accused and Smith caught up with him and stabbed him in the back. The accused then ran from the scene.”

The stabbing victim fell to the ground outside a block of flats and witnesses tried to help him as the emergency services were alerted.

The stabbing victim collapsed outside a block of flats in Esk Road, Inverness. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson.

He was found to have suffered a collapsed lung, which had pushed against the working lung causing him to be unable to breathe.

Paramedics managed to decompress the left side of his chest and he was able to breathe on his way to Raigmore Hospital.

Mr Farrell said it was estimated that the stabbing victim had lost almost four litres of blood. He was taken to intensive care and given blood transfusions.

He later underwent further surgery at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary before being transferred back to Raigmore where he was weaned from a ventilator.

Mr Farrell told the court: “He has permanent scars from the stab wound and the surgical incisions.”

The judge, Lord Fairley, deferred sentence on Smith, who is in prison, for the preparation of a background report.

Smith is due to be sentenced on July 28 at the High Court in Glasgow.