A Fife man who was jailed for a brutal knife attack has died after becoming ill in prison.
Scott Welch (42) was taken to Ninewells Hospital on Monday but died shortly afterwards.
Welch, of Leuchars, was imprisoned a little over a year ago for stabbing his victim three times in what was described during his court appearance as an unprovoked attack.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service confirmed: ”A prisoner from HMP Perth died at Ninewells Hospital on Monday February 20. Scott Welch (42) was sentenced to three years for assault at Cupar Sheriff Court in February 2011. The police were notified and will report the circumstances to the procurator fiscal. A fatal accident inquiry may be held in due course.”
It is unusual for a prisoner death not to be followed by a fatal accident inquiry, which is likely to be held at Perth Sheriff Court.
Welch, who had previously lived at Norman View, Leuchars, was found guilty by a jury on February 17 of assaulting Patrick McCurdy on December 6 2009, repeatedly stabbing him to his severe injury.
Welch claimed that the attack, in Warwick Close, was over an earlier assault in which he was the victim. He plunged a knife three times into Mr McCurdy, leaving him soaked in blood.
With good behaviour, Welch could have left prison in six months. He would have then been supervised for a further year after his sentence.
Such was the ferocity of his crime, he was told he had been lucky he had not killed Mr McCurdy. Sheriff Charles Macnair said: ”You are perhaps fortunate that the injuries were not far more serious. If you stab a knife into someone the way you did, it’s probably extremely fortunate you were not facing a far more serious charge. Often, it’s a matter of chance as to whether such injuries are minor, serious or fatal.”
Welch had no history of violent crime before the incident and had held down a full-time job until his mental and physical health began to deteriorate. The court heard how he found it increasingly difficult to cope with his problems and had turned to drink and was receiving psychiatric treatment.