SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lord Arthurson made the following remarks in court:

"Thomas Craig, on 28 November 2025 at Glasgow High Court you were convicted after trial of one charge of assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of life and another charge of assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of life and attempted murder, all in respect of the use by you of a broken bottle as a weapon in the course of a train journey between Glasgow and Perth on the evening of 16 February 2024.

Your victims were two young men, now aged 22 and 23, who were complete strangers to you.  Your attack upon them was unprovoked.  You had that day taken alcohol for approximately 6 hours. You had also consumed cocaine. Footage of your crimes was played to the jury during your trial. You yourself in the background report prepared in this case have described what is seen in the footage as a “monster” who was unrecognisable to you.  You ran towards your first victim striking him on the neck with the bottle which you had just broken on his head.  As your second victim courageously came to the assistance of his friend, you repeatedly stabbed him on the head and body with the broken bottle.  The footage showed you forcefully inflicting some 9 blows with the broken bottle to the chest and neck of your second victim in what was a wholly murderous attack upon him.  You thereafter calmly walked away. Further footage showed you trying to kick your way off the train by kicking the train door and changing clothing before police were able to board.

Your first victim was taken by ambulance to Forth Valley Royal Hospital, and received treatment for a wound to the back of his neck.  Your second victim required treatment at Forth Valley Royal Hospital and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.  He had sustained a 10cm full thickness laceration to the left side of his chest; a left sided pneumothorax;  internal bleeding and arterial damage; and various wounds to his left elbow and forearm.  He lost over 2 litres of blood, representing approximately 40% of his total blood volume.  The distance from the area of penetrative injury in the left side of the chest to the heart sac was only 12.8mm.  The depth of that penetrative wound was some 4 to 5cm. He required thoracic surgery from a cardio-thoracic surgeon.

You are now aged 48.  You have to date accrued some five previous convictions, all at sheriff court summary level.  You have served no prior custodial sentences.  A criminal justice social work prepared in respect of you states that you began consuming alcohol at age 12 and cocaine at age 16.  You are assessed as presenting what is described as a maximum risk, with a high likelihood of further offending, including violent offending.

I have listened with care to the submissions advanced this morning in mitigation by your senior counsel, and note in particular what has been said regarding your history of cocaine and alcohol addiction and the significant rehabilitative steps taken by you while on remand, all as referenced in your own letter to the court and the report of the prison recovery officer; your expressed remorse; your loss of your family and your business through past addiction; and your acceptance of your culpability and conduct in respect of these offences, the trial proceeding on the contested libel of attempted murder.

In the whole circumstances it is plain that only a very substantial custodial disposal will be appropriate in this case, standing the nature and gravity of the offending of which you have been convicted.  Fuelled by cocaine and alcohol, on a moving busy inter‑city train you launched an appallingly violent attack on two young men who were complete strangers to you, terrifying them and indeed all on board who witnessed what you did.  I regard the fact that these crimes were committed by you on a busy evening train as a significant aggravator in this case.  Members of the public have every right to expect to be able travel on public transport networks safely and without fear of disgraceful behaviour such as yours.

On the basis of the evidence led at your trial and the risk assessment material now available, it is apparent that the normal period of licence would not be adequate to protect the public from serious harm from you when you are in due course released into the community.  You will accordingly this morning be made the subject of an extended sentence, which disposal will be in two parts.  The first part will be custodial.  The second part will take the form of an extension period, when you will be under supervision while on licence in the community.  The conditions of your licence will be fixed by Scottish Ministers.  If you fail to comply with these conditions during the extension period your licence will be revoked and you may be returned to custody for a further period in respect of this indictment.  The court also has power to deal with you if you commit a further offence after your release from the custodial part of this sentence while you are on licence and under supervision.

Turning to disposal in this case, you will on charges one and two on this indictment on an in cumulo basis serve an extended sentence of 15 years duration.  The custodial part will be 12 years.  Had I been sentencing you separately on these charges, the notional determinate custodial tariffs imposed would have been 4 years on charge 1, discounted from a period of 6 years due to your earlier offer to plead guilty to that charge, and 11 years on charge 2.  Having regard to the important sentencing principle of totality, I have determined to impose an in cumulo custodial part of 12 years.  The extension period will be one of 3 years.  The sentencing purposes of the custodial part are punishment, retribution and deterrence.  The sentencing purpose of the extension period is your future rehabilitation into the community, which is of course inextricably linked to protection of the public.

This sentence will be backdated to the date of your initial remand into custody in these proceedings, namely to 19 February 2024.

Finally, I would like to commend publicly the passengers shown on the footage who came to the aid of your victims on the train, in particular the palliative care nurse who gave evidence at the trial who was able to provide calm and highly professional medical assistance and reassurance in extremely difficult and volatile circumstances.