SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lord Colbeck made the following remarks in court:

"Michael Harvey, on 20 June 2025 you were unanimously convicted by a jury of the attempted murder of Carol O’Reilly and of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

What started as a pleasant evening descended to the point where, in Waterloo Street, in the early hours of 1 October 2023, you attacked Carol O’Reilly, pulled her from a window ledge and threw her to the ground, repeatedly seized her and threw her to the ground, repeatedly seized her by the body, pinned her against a bus stop and struck her head against that bus stop, dragged her along the ground, causing her head to repeatedly strike the ground and cause her to lose consciousness.

Later, when you returned to the Ibis Hotel, you struck her on the head and body and, again, caused her to lose consciousness.

As a result of your attacks upon her, Miss O’Reilly suffered life changing severe injuries, permanent impairment and permanent disfigurement.

When others attended to Miss O’Reilly, you pretended she had sustained her injuries by falling in a shower. An account rejected by the jury.

You are 32 years of age. You have twenty-six previous convictions, the first of which is from September 2009, when you were 16 years of age, and have served a custodial sentence on two occasions. None of your previous convictions involve similar offending to that now before the court – the current offences being a marked escalation in your offending behaviour.

In determining the headline sentence, I am first required to assess the seriousness of the present offence.

The seriousness of an offence is determined by two things: the culpability of the offender and the harm caused, or which might have been caused, by the offence. As either or both culpability and harm increase, so may the seriousness of the offence.

Considering firstly the charge of attempted murder, in assessing culpability, the court requires to assess the blameworthiness of the offender at the time of committing the offence. The factors relevant to the assessment of culpability in your case are that you were seen on CCTV lifting and then dropping your victim, who was vulnerable due to the consumption of alcohol.

I am satisfied that there was no degree of planning involved and that your initial behaviour was caused by anger. Quite what caused you to be assault Miss O’Reilly when you returned to the Ibis Hotel is not clear, however, by that time her vulnerability had increased – as was well known to you from the events at the Royal Infirmary and again in West Regent Street when you returned from the hospital, without Miss O’Reilly having been seen by medical personnel.

Lying to others about what had happened to Miss O’Reilly was calculating and self-serving.

In my assessment, those factors are redolent of a high degree of culpability.

An offence will, generally, be regarded as more serious the greater the amount of harm.

The injuries sustained, which it was not disputed were severe and occasioned permanent disfigurement and impairment and were to the danger of Miss O’Reilly’s life, are indicative of an exceptionally high level of harm.

Her victim statement sets out the devastating consequences of your attack upon her.

Taken together, the present offences are exceptionally serious.

I turn to consider the aggravating and mitigating factors present in this case.

In terms of aggravating factors, I have regard to your previous convictions and to the fact that you were under the influence of alcohol when you attacked Miss O’Reilly. A further aggravating factor is that you were the subject of a community payback order at the time of the offences.

You continue to deny responsibility for the offences. I have regard to what has been said on your behalf today by Mr Findlay KC and to the contents of the criminal justice social work report – nothing said on your behalf or contained within the report amounts to mitigation.

The gravity of the crimes you have committed is such that there is no alternative to a lengthy prison sentence.

Such a sentence is, in my assessment, necessary to punish you as a consequence of your criminal behaviour; and to express society’s concern about and disapproval of that behaviour.

Taking all this in to account, and having regard to the principle that a sentence should be no more severe than is necessary to achieve the appropriate purposes of sentencing in each case, you will go to prison for a period of 9 years in respect of charge 1 (the attempted murder charge) – 12 months of that sentence is attributable to the domestic abuse aggravation. You will go to prison for 2 years in respect of charge 7 (the attempt to defeat the ends of justice charge).

Those sentences will run concurrently; accordingly, the sentence of the court is one of 9 years’ imprisonment which will be backdated to 3 October 2023, the date you were first remanded in custody in relation to these matters.

I also impose a non-harassment order on you.  The terms of that order are you must not approach or contact or attempt to approach or contact Carol O’Reilly for an indefinite period."

18 July 2025