A Dundee knifeman has been jailed for three and a half years after he permanently scarred another man’s head with a Stanley blade.
Scott Flynn was convicted by jurors of severely injuring and permanently disfiguring Stephen Murray after a trial.
The majority of jurors found the 38-year-old assaulted Mr Murray on January 17 last year at Elders Court in Dundee.
Jurors also found Flynn illegally possessed the weapon on various Dundee streets on the same date.
Flynn already had convictions for possessing a Stanley blade and for permanently disfiguring someone.
Solicitor Billy Watt explained his client was a victim of a murder attempt and had PTSD and addiction issues.
HMP Low Moss inmate Flynn has been remanded since a court hearing the day after the assault and had his prison sentence backdated.
‘Quite horrific’
Flynn’s trial at Forfar Sheriff Court was the first conducted there with a jury since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sheriff Krista Johnston sentenced him immediately after the jury returned its verdict.
She said: “I take into account what your solicitor’s said about your complex PTSD and the injury you recently sustained as a victim yourself.
“Nonetheless, these are very serious charges of which you have now been convicted by the jury.
“Charge one resulted in a quite horrific injury that required a great number of stitches and perhaps even staples.
“You require to be punished in respect of the harm you caused in your own culpability.
“You’re not a young man. Your record is eloquent of violence.”
She told him: “You have a previous conviction for possessing a Stanley knife.
“You have a previous conviction for possessing scissors as an offensive weapon and you have a conviction at sheriff and jury level for assault to injury and permanent disfigurement.
“The only way in which I can deal with you is to impose a period of imprisonment.”
‘Suffers mentally’
Flynn had been on bail when he committed the gruesome attack.
Solicitor Mr Watt said: “Mr Flynn has had his troubles with substance misuse and has a lengthy record.
“He has told me that he certainly hopes to move forward with his life.
“He is free of drugs and hopes to continue that.
“It’s not long since he was a victim of an attempted murder. He’s returned home to his flat, he’s tried to rebuild his life.
“The injuries he suffered were very extensive and he suffers mentally from that as well.
“He had been engaging in petty crime to fund his habits and issues but certainly nothing of this nature.”
Jailed before
Flynn was jailed for three years in 2017 after he tried to smuggle heroin worth a five figure sum into prison to settle a debt.
He flagged down a police car in a deliberate bid to be arrested so he could smuggle the £20,000 stash into jail.
His lawyer claimed a gang threatened him and his family with “slashings” if he did not co-operate.
In 2021, he was jailed for 100 days for breaking into a shed on Dundee’s Hazel Drive and pedalling off on a £200 bicycle, believing he was being followed by “cuckooing” gangsters from London.
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