BUCKFAST BRUTE’S VICTIM RUSHED TO HOSPITAL AFTER ORDEAL ARMED RAIDER CAGED FOR STABBING SHOPKEEPER IN THE NECK

A thug has been caged for stabbing a shopkeeper twice in the neck during a botched Buckfast robbery.

William Lauchlan, 27, was high on heroin and pills when he plunged the sixinch blade into Zabbiullah Amiri.

He knifed the grocer after

trying to leg it from his Stop N Shop store with bottles of tonic wine.

The fiend was yesterday jailed for 28 months at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Seith Ireland insisted he poses a r isk to public safety. He said: “This is a particularly serious offence.

“You struck Mr Amiri with a bladed item, a knife, whereby he had a serious injury.

“He was going about his lawful business in his shop when all this happened.”

Lauchlan carried out the attack after he was caught trying to steal booze.

He had entered the shop with then-girlfriend Colette McKee, 30.

The knife thug tried to distract the shopkeeper while she loaded bottles of Buckfast and cigarettes into a bag.

Mr Amiri grabbed him when he tried to leave the store in Causeyside Street around 11am on July 19.

But Lauclan swung his arm around and struck the worker twice in the neck – just millimetres away from major arteries.

The businessman was rushed to the Royal Alexandra Hospital and needed stitches for his wounds.

He earlier told how he managed to subdue his attacker. He said: “I was working just fine. They entered the shop and after spending some time picked up booze and cigs worth £65.

“Without paying the money they were trying to escape.

“I managed to hold the male and jump the counter.

“While I was jumping the counter he stabbed me twice in the neck with a six- inch knife. Luckily, it didn’t hit me in a bad area of the neck – I felt alright at the time.

“I managed to get his knife out of his hand and took control of him and took all the items they were trying to steal.”

Mr Amiri wre s t l e d Lauchlan to the door and shouted for help.

Cops raced to the scene after receiving three 999 calls from members of the public.

The drama was captured on the shop’s CCTV cameras.

Footage of the attack was played to the court and showed the moment the blade was plunged into Mr Amiri’s neck.

The court heard Lauchlan was “high on a cocktail” of diazepam and heroin on the day of the attack.

Defence lawyer Rhona Lynch said: “He’s a man who has had certain addiction difficulties. His use of a knife was completely reprehensible.”

Sheriff Ireland insisted the brute would have to be monitored closely when he is released.

He added: “I believe you will still pose a risk to the public when you are at liberty.

“For the protection of the public, I shall impose a supervised release order.

“You will have to report to social workers.

“I am giving them the authority to direct you to drug and alcohol counselling.”