It was a horrible story which truly shocked us to the core. Not just on the night it happened, but even now given the lasting profound impact it had on several lives, no least the victim.
An off duty police officer from Blantyre left for dead in a garden in Station Road last year, after being attacked by a gang of feral youths near Blantyre Station.
The drunken gang aged between 14 and 20 comprising of males and females not from Blantyre had caused havoc on a train before alighting at Blantyre on 30th March 2024. The man was dropping off his daughter at the station and quickly found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time after accidentally clipping one of the gang with his wing mirror.
Four of the gang have now admitted to their roles in the shocking attack which occurred at Blantyre train station in Lanarkshire last March 30.
Lauren Neary, now 18, and Robert Faulds, 20, pled guilty to an attempted murder charge at the High Court in Glasgow this week. Two of the assailants were subject to a combined 20 bails order at the time and also on curfews to keep them at home at night.
The group had become aggressive and would not back down when calmly spoken to. When the man got out the car, he was punched in the face. He managed to get back into his vehicle as the group began to kick and punch the car from all sides.
The off-duty officer was left “fearing for his own safety” and made for a friends house in Station Road. The gang running after him catching up with him and smashing a bottle on his head. More kicks and punches ended with the victim lying on the ground unconscious.
A teenager, Neary and Faulds and an unknown female lifted rocks and boulders throwing them at their victim, even in this state. The court heard, he “appeared completely defenceless and dazed”. The gang finally off not caring if the victim lived or died.
The man was rushed to hospital and had to have facial reconstructive surgery to rebuild part of his face. His injuries have left him scarred for life and he has no feeling on part of the left side of his face, below his right eye and his top lip. The injuries adversely affecting his job and daily life.
The attackers were all arrested in early April 2024. Sentence has still to be passed.
