Pair who attacked disabled man jailed

The men were jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh

Two men who carried out a violent attack on a disabled man in Peterhead have each been jailed for more than six years.

Jack Cleary, 20, tipped the man from his wheelchair and stabbed him in the leg with a knife before pouring salt in the wound in May 2022.

Ewan Hardie, 52, joined Cleary for a later second assault on the victim.

The men admitted assault to the danger of life. Cleary was jailed for six years and eight months at the High Court in Edinburgh, and Hardie received six years and nine months.

Cleary was 18 when he threatened to stab his 52-year-old victim in the eyes with hypodermic syringes and struck him with a baseball bat as he lay on the floor of a flat.

He robbed him of a mobile phone, bank card and medication, but returned with Hardie to inflict further violence.

During the follow-up attack the victim was pulled from his wheelchair and dragged along the ground with a belt around his neck until he blacked out.

Defence counsel Tony Lenehan KC said Cleary was a young man who had become "enmeshed in the drugs underworld and was guided by others".

He said: "He behaved in a dreadful manner. There is no question about that. There is remorse shown."

Solicitor advocate Jim Stephenson for Hardie, who has 150 previous convictions, said: "He has been blighted by drink and drugs. He fully understands he will receive a custodial sentence for this matter."

Judge Lord Armstrong said "extreme violence" was used and it had "devastating and ongoing long-term negative consequences".