Boy, 16, locked up for knife attack on woman, 85, in Montrose

A 16-year-old boy who repeatedly stabbed an Angus pensioner in her home with a knife from her own kitchen has been locked up for four years.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, inflicted multiple wounds on the 85-year-old woman during the attack in Montrose last September.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the woman, who he robbed of £80, would never feel safe in her home again.

The boy admitted charges of assault and attempted murder.

Lord Richardson told the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons: "This was a terrible crime. It was a vicious, brutal and cowardly attack on a defenceless elderly woman."

• Teenager admits attempted murder of pensioner

He said that listening to the description of the wounds inflicted was "excruciating".

The judge said the teenager, who was 15 at the time, had carried out the attack even after his victim had offered him all the money she had.

Lord Richardson said: "She will bear the scars, both physical and psychological, for the rest of her life. You have forever shattered the sense of security she had in her home."

Bloodstained knife

The judge said that reports prepared on the teenager, who has previous convictions for knife possession and battery, had concluded that at present he posed a high-likelihood of reoffending.

He said he took into account the teenager's difficult upbringing, mental health problems and that he appeared to be genuinely remorseful.

The teenager was earlier made the subject of a care order by a court in England and placed in the care of an English council.

He stayed in care settings before becoming resident at a school in Scotland in 2020 where he was under supervision.

The teenager broke free from a staff member and fled, stating that he was planning to return to England. Police were alerted.

After the attack, police found a bloodstained knife at the cottage and other knives on a kitchen worktop where he had put them before the attack.

They also found a sledgehammer on a chair which he had brought to the cottage.

He was arrested after police saw him walking on the A92 at Montrose in the early hours of 16 September 2021.