Sword row man guilty

A north-east man has been found guilty of stabbing a teenager with a sword in a row over noise.

Paul Morris knifed the boy after twice asking him and his friends to move on from outside his flat.

After asking them to be quiet the first time, the 24-year-old told the group he would take a sword to them if they did not leave.

And when one of the youths – who was 16 at the time – refused to back down, Morris stabbed him in the chest.

Morris, of Hazelhurst Terrace, Aberdeen, had denied having a knife during the confrontation on September 2 last year.

But a jury found him guilty of unlawfully wounding the teen, and making a threat with a bladed or pointed article. He was however,

“A custodial sentence is almost inevitable”

cleared of the more serious charge of wounding the boy with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Judge Michael Harington deferred sentence until tomorrow, and released Morris on bail – but warned him prison was “almost inevitable”.

He said: “The jury has convicted you on overwhelming evidence that you had a knife. They have acquitted you of the more serious charge but convicted you of the lesser offence. I now have to sentence you for that.

“A custodial sentence is almost inevitable but I am prepared to get a report on you to assist me – on how long as much as anything else.”

During his evidence at Gloucester Crown Court Morris insisted he did not have a knife at any time.

Less than an inch separated a heated argument from a murder case for amanwho was in the process of moving to Aberdeen.

Paul Morris has been warned he faces jail after being found guilty of unlawfully wounding a teenager in a fracas outside his flat.

The victim suffered a stab wound of less than an inch wide, but any deeper and it might have penetrated his heart, which is why Morris was warned in court that it could have easily been a murder charge.

On such twists of fate do these matters often rest. It is frightening how quickly some of these incidents accelerate out of control – and how the idiot causing the trouble in the first place can suddenly become the victim.