Schizophrenic jailed for attack on McAllister
A PARAnOID schizophrenic who punched former Scotland captain Gary McAllister in a street attack has been jailed for 27 months.
Damien Swan, 34, knocked out the Rangers assistant manager’s front tooth during a drink and cannabisfuelled assault, a court was told.
A week later, Swan set his dogs on construction workers while claiming he was a ‘celebrity’. Three were bitten, with one man suffering ‘horrendous injuries’ to his arm.
McAllister, 56, needed 12 stitches for his injuries, which included a split top lip.
His ordeal came after he had been on a night out with wife Hayley, 42, and friends in leeds city centre in March 2019.
Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan told leeds Crown Court that while McAllister looked for a taxi, his wife and her female friend had been talking to Swan and another man.
Swan told them he was from Bermuda, and asked who they were with. They pointed to McAllister, who had just hailed a taxi.
Mr O’Sullivan said: ‘The defendant suddenly ran round the taxi and, for no apparent reason, proceeded to punch forcefully his face, causing him to fall to the floor.’
His wife and her friend shouted for people to stop Swan as he fled. Swan was identified on CCTV and arrested days later. He pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm to McAllister, two offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act and unlawfully wounding the workers. He was banned from keeping dogs for life as well as being jailed.
In mitigation, lawyer Robin Frieze said Swan had been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, hearing voices and hallucinating. He added: ‘He was behaving in an uncharacteristic way.’