Glasgow man jailed for brutal murder bid
Last updated 14th Oct 2019
A man who carries knives for his own protection was jailed for six years for brutally stabbing a man in a murder bid. Mark Cameron lured his victim from his flat before repeatedly wounding him in a knife attack.
Cameron (30) twice tripped up Ian Doran during a struggle at a close in Balfour Street, in Glasgow, before using the weapon on him.
A judge told Cameron at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You pled guilty to the crime of attempted murder perpetrated by assaulting your victim repeatedly on the body with a knife to his severe injury and to the danger of his life."
Lord Turnbull said that in sentencing him he had to take into account not only the serious nature of the charge but Cameron's criminal record which included offences of weapon possession and assault.
The judge told him he took into account his expressions of remorse and his guilty plea
He told Cameron, a prisoner in Barlinnie jail, that he would have faced a nine-year prison sentence, but for his early guilty plea.
Lord Turnbull also ordered that he should be kept under supervision for a further three-year period.
Cameron earlier admitted attempting to murder Mr Doran in the attack on May 26 this year.
He rang the buzzer at his victim's flat and asked if he had a cigarette. Mr Doran did not recognise the voice but went downstairs and saw him and realised that he lived nearby.
He invited Cameron into the close but he then pulled out a knife with a six inch blade on Mr Doran.
Cameron came at him with the knife and a struggle began. Cameron tripped the other man and stabbed him in the back three times.
The victim managed to knock the weapon out of Cameron's hand and got back up, but he was tripped again and stabbed again.
The victim repeatedly shouted: "No don't". He eventually managed to get his attacker out of the close.
A neighbour contacted police and Mr Doran went back to his home where his partner realised he had stab wounds and she called an ambulance.
Police arrived to find a pool of blood at the entrance to the close and followed bloody footsteps up the stairs to the victim's flat.
Mr Doran was found to have sustained nine stab wounds to his back and chest and suffered a collapsed lung in the murder bid.
Defence counsel Geoffrey Forbes said Cameron offered his apologies to the victim and his partner who went to his aid.
"He is a man who carries knives, as he sees it, for his own protection in the area where he lives," he said.
Mr Forbes said: "That is not advanced as mitigation, but an explanation by him why he carries a knife and had a knife on that day."
He said Cameron went to confront his victim but became aggressive and lost his temper.
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