SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lord Matthews made the following statement in court
"You both pleaded guilty, in different terms, to assaulting the complainer in a very nasty and unprovoked attack.

Jordan Gray your plea was to assaulting him to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment by striking him with a baseball bat. You were the subject of 2 bail orders at the time, the more recent order having been granted 3 days before this incident. You had taken offence because he had complained about the noise you were making and you deliberately went looking for him with the bat. When a struggle ensued you called out in a cowardly fashion for help from your co-accused, who had had nothing to do with what was going on.

Alasdair Gray your plea was with the additional aggravation of causing danger to the complainer’s life. You struck him repeatedly with a knife. You were subject to 4 bail orders, the most recent of which was also granted 3 days beforehand.

As I have indicated, this was not your concern and yet you became involved. It is a mark of the cowardly nature of your intervention that the injuries you caused were towards the complainer’s back. There was no need for you to use a weapon like that.
As a result of what you did, Alasdair Gray, the complainer suffered a collapsed lung and air in the cavity round his heart. He also sustained slashing injuries to his back and right shoulder. 

You, Jordan Gray, caused the complaner’s left arm to be fractured in 2 places to the extent that it is unlikely that he will ever regain the full use of it. This has affected his hobby of playing the guitar and has also had an impact on the work he is able to do.
I have taken account of all the circumstances, everything said on your behalf, the contents of the Criminal Justice Social Work reports and your respective records.

I have also considered the various certificates submitted on your behalf Jordan Gray. It is clear from those and from the report prepared for you Alasdair Gray that you are intelligent young men with very troubled backgrounds and I hope that in due course you can address your various issues and make something of yourselves. I note also your expressions of remorse and I hope that you are genuinely resolved to turn away from crime in the future. You both have the ability to do that.

That having been said, you, Alasdair Gray, have been a persistent offender with numerous convictions for violence and contravention of bail conditions.

You, Jordan Gray, have a much lesser record with no convictions for violence and fewer contraventions of bail conditions.

In your case, Alasdair Gray, I am satisfied that the conditions of a normal licence would be insufficient to protect the public from serious harm from you on your release. I will accordingly impose on you a sentence in two parts, a custodial term and an extension period during which you will be subject to the conditions of a licence set by the Scottish Ministers. Breach of any of the conditions on your release will see you liable to be returned to prison to serve the whole of the sentence.

Had you been convicted after trial the custodial term would have been 6 years and 6 months, the 6 months reflecting the bail aggravation. Given your plea at a Preliminary Hearing that term will now be one of 4 years and 10 months, including 4 months for the aggravation. The extension period is 2 years and the sentence will run from 1 January 2021, taking account as best I can of the various periods when your remand was interrupted by sentences.

In your case, Jordan Gray, it is not necessary to impose an extended sentence or a Supervised Release Order.  Had you been convicted after trial I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 3 years and 3 months, 3 months being attributable to the bail aggravation. As it is, in view of your very early offer to plead guilty, I impose a sentence of imprisonment for 2 years and 2 months, 2 months being attributable to the aggravation. The sentence will run from 16 July 2021."