SENTENCING STATEMENTS

Upon sentencing, Lady Poole made the following remarks:

"Lucy Margaret Newton and Patrick Walton, you were convicted by the jury at Glasgow High Court on 7 August 2026 of abduction, assault to injury, and robbery. The jury by its verdict found you were both involved in a plan to carry out these crimes. Not all of those involved in that plan are being sentenced today.

"You Lucy Margaret Newton were 23 years old at the time of your offending. You had been in a relationship with your victim who was in his 40s. During the course of that relationship, he had taken you on foreign holidays and bought you expensive gifts including a Rolex watch. Closer in time to the offending, you had commenced a relationship with your co-accused, Patrick Walton, which you both describe as 'casual'.

"On 8 December 2023, you Lucy Newton were in contact with your victim. You arranged for him to come to Rosyth, where you lived, to see you. Your victim was waiting near your house for you when he was set upon by a group of men. You had passed on information about your victim, thereby enabling what happened next. Your victim was attacked, bundled into the back of his car at knifepoint, and driven from Rosyth to his home in Glasgow. There, he was robbed of about £18,000 in cash, his Rolex watch and gold jewellery, and a car, which was later abandoned. There was a significant degree of planning involved in this attack.

"Patrick Walton, the Crown led evidence that you were one of the men directly involved in what happened to your victim. Your involvement included the assault and abduction in Rosyth, and the robbery in Glasgow. After the offence, you Patrick Walton and you Lucy Newton checked in together to a hotel in Fife, where some others involved in the offence also stayed. Later during that night CCTV shows both you Lucy Newton and you Patrick Walton driving away together. You then took a taxi, and ultimately went to England. Yet when later apprehended and interviewed, you Lucy Newton denied knowing who Patrick Walton was.

"The serious offences committed were terrifying for your victim. He was set upon by multiple assailants wearing balaclavas, and forcibly abducted, with weapons involved. His evidence was that he thought he was going to end up murdered. Your victim was subjected to sustained criminal conduct, including being robbed of significant amounts of cash and property. He was left with injuries. In his evidence, he indicated that he had been traumatised, disorientated and shaken.

"I have taken into account everything said on your behalf in mitigation, and carefully considered the criminal justice social work reports I ordered to assist me with sentencing you.

"You Lucy Margaret Newton are now 26 years old. Although your involvement in the offending was of a lesser degree than those who directly assaulted, abducted and robbed your victim, you nevertheless played an important part in the plan to commit these offences. Your role enabled serious harm to be inflicted on your victim. There may have been difficulties in your relationship, but that is no justification for this type of offending. I take into account that you come before the court as a first offender. You are no longer subject to the guidelines on sentencing young persons, but I have had regard to your age of 23 years at the time of the offending, which was younger than all of your co-accused. You had a difficult upbringing. Although you were working as a care worker at the time of the offending, you were also abusing drugs and involving yourself in bad company. You have expressed remorse for what you did, and shown some insight into your offending. Following 5 days on remand, you were placed on supervised bail prior to the trial, including a curfew condition for approximately 8 months. You have not offended while on bail. I want to acknowledge that you have taken advantage of opportunities during your supervised bail to become drug free, start your own business, obtain a tenancy, and engage with health services. These factors demonstrate prospects for rehabilitation, and have operated to reduce the sentence I would otherwise have imposed. 

"You Patrick Walton do not come before this court as a first offender, although this offence is an escalation in the seriousness of your offending. You were 29 years old at the time of these serious offences, and 32 at the time of trial. You directly involved yourself in violent offending and robbery of property and cash. You recognise that your actions were 'horrible', as you put it, and your victim would have been frightened. You claim not to remember your offences because of taking drink and drugs. But taking drink and drugs is not an excuse, it is an aggravation. The courts take very seriously crime involving weapons such as knives, and abduction, assault and robbery of victims. No fewer than eleven references have been produced on your behalf, from a variety of people including family members, friends, people you work with, and neighbours, which the court has taken into account. Those references speak highly of you, and these offences being out of character. You have a supportive family, and a history of work, most recently in roofing. You have had to cope with some traumatic events in your life, including suicide and illness within your family. Around about the time of the offence you had been spending time in Scotland, including with your co-accused Lucy Newton. You have three children living in Birmingham with their mother, who has health conditions. You had an involvement in their upbringing, including taking them to see your parents. You appear to have taken a wrong turn in your life prior to committing these offences.

"Nevertheless, the court’s role is to sentence you on the basis of the jury’s verdict. The jury found you both guilty of very serious offences of assault to injury, abduction and robbery. A knife was involved. Our society will not tolerate this type of lawlessness. Given the severity of the crimes for which the jury found you jointly criminally responsible, even though neither of you have previously been sentenced to imprisonment or detention, no other method of dealing with you is appropriate.

"Lucy Margaret Newton, the sentence I impose on you is one of 4 years and six months imprisonment, backdated to 28 July 2026 to take into account time on remand.

"Patrick Walton, I impose on you a sentence of 7 years and 6 months imprisonment. Your sentence is backdated to 7 August 2026 when you were first remanded in custody."

2 October 2026