A pensioner beaten unconscious by a pack of youths has vowed not to lock himself away in fear.
Tam Rigley was attacked by four teenage boys outside his sheltered housing complex in Elgin’s Forsyth Close.
And although last night the 68-year-old said he did not think his attackers would be properly punished for their crime, he vowed not to let them stop him living his life.
Two of the culprits admitted their part in the incident when they appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court on Thursday, but the other two are too young.
Instead of locking up 19-year-old Dylan Aspland and his 17-year-old accomplice, who cannot be named for legal reasons, Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov said she was considering a curfew and deferred sentence for reports.
The gang, believed to be aged between 14 and 18 at the time of the offence last June, had been tormenting the former Royal Navy aircraft engineer for weeks before the attack.
Mr Rigley thought photographing the teenagers so he could pass on their identity to the police would “frighten” them.
But it spurred them into a frenzy, which left him needing plastic surgery to repair a deep cut to his hand.
Last night the pensioner said a 14-year-old boy appeared to be the group’s ringleader.
He added: “I thought taking their pictures would deter them, but because some were 14 they think they can’t be photographed.
“They began making out I was a paedophile, and followed me but I just kept walking.
“I managed to shut the close gate on them, but couldn’t get it to lock.
“As I was trying to hold it, two of the boys came around the gate at the other end of the vennel behind me.
“I didn’t think they were going to attack me, that came as a shock.”
Mr Rigley tried to fend the youths off with his camera, but was quickly overpowered and knocked to the ground.
He struggles to remember anything after that, as he passed out.
He said: “It just happened, I can’t remember much after the first blows were struck.
“There was an awful amount of blood, but I managed to contact the warden and he let the police know about it.”
When officers arrived they followed pools of Mr Rigley’s blood from the street up to his first floor property.
“The walls, the banister and my flat all looked horrific”, he added.
During their hearing, Sheriff Pasportnikov told Aspland and his co-accused that the attack was “disgusting and cowardly” but said she was not convinced that sending them to detention was appropriate – as they would not necessarily come out “better people”.
She is instead looking at imposing a restriction of liberty order, which will confine them to their homes during certain times.
Mr Rigley questioned the perceived “soft” sentence.
He said: “A curfew won’t stop these teenagers, it seems like you have to murder somebody before you get locked up.
“The sheriff said she didn’t lock them up so that they could continue working – but I don’t go around battering people then expect to keep my job.
“I just think they are untouchable.”
Although Mr Rigley remains wary of groups of teenagers, the determined pensioner plans to maintain an outgoing lifestyle.
He added: “You see these young people wearing hoodies so you can’t tell who they are, and that concerns me.
“Since it happened, people around the complex have taken to locking their doors more often.
“But you can’t lock yourself in can you?”
Mr Rigley was brought up in Glasgow but relocated to Moray when his Royal Navy career brought him to HMS Fulmar in Lossiemouth during the 1960s.
After leaving the navy, Mr Rigley worked at a range of local fabrication firms.
