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HMA v Robert Greig, Kieran Crawford, Jamie Fullerton, Laughlin Duffy & Dylan Marshall
Jul 1, 2024
On sentencing, Lord Arthurson said:
“Robert Greig, Kieran Crawford, Jamie Fullerton, Laughlin Duffy and Dylan Marshall, on 30 May 2024, during the float period of a dedicated floating trial diet, each of you pled guilty to your involvement in a vicious concerted attack on a complete stranger, all to his severe injury, with you Robert Greig additionally accepting your criminal responsibility for that person’s subsequent death.
Your victim was Mr Craig Watson, aged 39. In death he leaves behind his partner, his parents, his sister and his two adult children.
Following a late night altercation in Whitevale Gardens, Glasgow, on 17 April 2022, all five of you charged towards Mr Watson, who tried to run away. You surrounded him and began assaulting him, punching and kicking him about the head and body. He fell but got back to his feet. Once again you charged at Mr Watson and surrounded him, repeatedly kicking and punching him about his head and torso. He fell to the ground again, as you continued to deliver blows to his head and body. As Mr Watson made a further attempt to get up you, Robert Greig, delivered a forceful kick to his head, after which Mr Watson slumped over and stopped moving. You all left the scene together, leaving it to a local resident to call the emergency services. Paramedics attended at 12.30am and Mr Watson was pronounced dead at 1.03am.
Mr Watson sustained a number of blunt force injuries, all indicative of an assault upon him which may have included blows, kicks and stamps. There was a possible fracture of the lower left jaw and a fracture at the base of the nose. A further fracture was noted in the carotid cartilage of the neck. Mr Watson further sustained a mild traumatic brain injury. He died due to a fatal disturbance to his cardiac rhythm which was a direct consequence of the acute stress of the assault. The Crown has elected to accept that the final kick delivered by Greig led to a loss of consciousness and to the fatal heart rhythm disturbance. It is Greig alone who is accordingly responsible for the culpable homicide of Mr Watson.
Robert Greig, you are aged 32 and have to date accrued 9 groups of previous convictions. You have served two prior short custodial sentences. You have convictions for weapons-related offending, up to and including sheriff and jury indictment level. You had consumed cocaine and alcohol prior to your commission of this crime. Kieran Crawford and Jamie Fullerton, you are both aged 21; Laughlin Duffy, you are aged 19; and Dylan Marshall, you are aged 18. None of the rest of you has any prior convictions. Reports have been prepared in respect of each of you, the terms of which I have read and noted.
I have also listened carefully to the submissions in mitigation advanced this morning on your behalf by your respective senior counsel, and propose to take into account all of the points canvassed by each of them in determining appropriate disposals in this case. In particular I note the unplanned nature of the attack, together with your personal and family circumstances and backgrounds, your respective ages now and at the time of your crime, your expressed remorse, the utility of your pleas of guilty, and the fact that it is only Mr Greig who has a criminal record and is the only one of you who is responsible for Mr Watson’s death. I further note the compliance with bail conditions, including a curfew, by those of you who have been on bail during these proceedings.
This was a feral, cowardly and concerted attack by all five of you upon an older man who was entirely unknown to you, to your victim’s severe injury. You may have now expressed remorse, but when it counted, not one of you called the emergency services. You attacked him as a pack, repeatedly kicking him on the head and body as libelled, including while he was on the ground. Robert Greig has of course additionally accepted criminal responsibility for Mr Watson’s death, having delivered the final forceful kick to your victim’s head.
In the whole circumstances, I now sentence you as follows. Robert Greig, you will serve a period of imprisonment of 7 years and 6 months, discounted from a period of 9 years due to the timing of your plea. This sentence will be backdated to 21 April 2022, being the date of your initial remand into custody in this case. The whole circumstances, including the available risk assessment material, do not quite in my view merit the imposition of an extended sentence, although that is an option that I have considered carefully in your case.
"Taking into account your respective ages, Kieran Crawford and Jamie Fullerton, you will each serve a period of imprisonment of 2 years imprisonment, discounted from a period of 30 months, and, Laughlin Duffy and Dylan Marshall, you will each serve a period of detention of 18 months, discounted from a period of 21 months. The sentences for Crawford, Fullarton and Duffy will each be backdated to 30 May 2024, being the date of your pleas of guilty and remand into custody. The sentence for Marshall, who has remained on bail throughout these proceedings, will run from today.”
1 July 2024