A drunk forestry worker who held a knife to the neck of a disabled Commonwealth Games sprint finalist escaped jail yesterday.
Jason Maclean, who came fifth in the 100m final of the Glasgow event last year, was on a night out with friends in Nairn when he was confronted by 24-year-old Lewis Murdoch.
Murdoch grabbed Mr Maclean by the neck and opened a slim credit-card knife which he held against the 18-year-old’s neck.
Murdoch, of 15 Belltower, Huntly Street, Inverness, made a 10mm (2in) cut just below Mr Maclean’s jawline but otherwise the sprinter was unhurt.
Sheriff Hall sentenced Murdoch to 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered him to pay Mr Maclean £500 in compensation. The sheriff added: “Drink is no excuse for what you did. For you to produce this blade and hold it to his throat is unacceptable.
“But you appear before me as a first offender and this allows me to deal with it by a non-custodial sentence. But this is an alternative to custody and if you do not complete the order, you can be taken back here and sentenced again.”
Murdoch appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted assaulting Jason by striking him with the knife on the night of Nairn Games on August 18, 2013. He also pleaded guilty to illegal possession of the knife.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told Sheriff David Hall that Mr Maclean couldn’t identify Murdoch to police because of his poor eyesight but his friends were able to give police the information.
Defence solicitor Diane Macfarlane said there had been an altercation between himself, Mr Maclean and another youth earlier that evening.
She said: “Mr Murdoch thought he was going to be attacked and produced the knife, which he uses for his work, to protect himself. It was the first time he had been in Nairn and had been drinking heavily with friends.
“He got lost and was wandering around the town trying to locate his pals when he encountered his victim. He realises it is a serious offence but the background report reveals he is at low risk of re-offending.
“He is also full of remorse. If he hadn’t been so intoxicated, it would never have happened.”