Jail for leaving ‘wheelbarrow killer’ with a brain injury

A thug who knocked down a killer, leaving him with a “significant” brain injury after they argued about whose car was the fastest, has been jailed for 16 months.

Ryan Lafferty, 28, claimed that his victim - the so-called “wheelbarrow killer” John “Jacky” Foxton who was jailed for six years in 2007 for one of Central Scotland’s most notorious cases of culpable homicide - had been making threats to strike him while boasting he had killed somebody before.

A court heard that the incident, which happened just after midnight on June 30 last year was captured on CCTV in Tillicoultry.

Foxton was heading back towards his home in Sauchie, three miles away, when he met Lafferty near the town centre.

Prosecutor Collette Fallon told Falkirk Sheriff Court Lafferty was holding a bottle of Buckfast, while Foxton, 46, “was not able to walk in a straight line”.

The depute fiscal said: “The accused then points off camera and beckons Foxton to come with him, and they both walk off together in the direction of Park Street.”

The court heard that a group of Lafferty’s friends understood that Laffety was going to show Foxton his car.

Down the street, however, Lafferty was seen on CCTV to punch Foxton once to the face.

Miss Fallon said Foxton fell “straight back”, and to the ground.

Friends who had been with Lafferty ran towards the scene and found Foxton “on the floor, unconscious, snoring and bleeding”.

Miss Fallon said: “The accused is clearly agitated, and as his friends approach he begins to bounce up and down and is calmed down by his friends.”

The depute fiscal added that one of Lafferty’s friends asked him what happened.

She said that Lafferty “replied that he and Foxton had been arguing about the speed of their respective vehicles, which made the accused feel threatened as Foxton had made threats to him and said he would ‘do him in’ if his car was not faster”.

Witnesses called an ambulance, and paramedics arrived to find Lafferty who was said to be “very anxious” and naked from the waist up - cradling Foxton’s head.

Foxton was unconscious and unresponsive and bleeding from his left eye area.

He was taken to hospital, where he was found to have bleeding and bruising on the brain and a fracture at the side of his skull.

He spent nearly two weeks in intensive care and nearly three and a half months in hospital.

The court heard he eventually recovered sufficient capacity to be discharged home to live with his partner though he still requires “significant support in the community”.

Father-of-two Lafferty, of Tillicoultry, admitted assaulting Foxton to his severe injury and impairment. He had initially been charged by police with attempted murder.

Defence solicitor Virgil Crawford said Lafferty suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.

He said: “Mr Foxton had been making threats to strike him, pointing out that he had killed somebody before. Mr Foxton does have a previous conviction for culpable homicide.”

Lafferty was made subject to an eight months supervised release order in addition to the 16 month jail term.

Sheriff Christopher Shead said: “There was some discussion about cars. That’s about as far away from provocation as can be.

“His record is exclusively for crimes of violence.”

In 2006, Foxton kicked and battered 19-year-old Ryan Copeland to death after a row in Alloa, then carted his body in a wheelbarrow to the house where Ryan lived with his parents and tipped him out near the doorstep.

Judge Lord Bracadale said at the time the effect on Ryan’s family had been ”profound”.

He said Foxton had been “callous” and shown no remorse, adding: “Instead of calling for an ambulance, you put him in a wheelbarrow and dumped him in the garden.”

Foxton admitted a charge of culpable homicide.