Hooligans attack hockey players

Lord Matthews imposed a 15-year extended sentence at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday. Burns will spend ten years of this in custody with five years supervision after he is released from jail.

Sentencing, Lord Matthews said: “You were caught virtually red-handed and your own evidence was an obvious fabrication form start to finish, plainly being made up as you were going along.

“Leaving aside your own explanation why you were there, the only reason I can discern for your actions is that you objected to something that your victim wrote.

“There are ways and means of dealing with grievances, real or imagined, against the media and this was plainly not one of them.

“The freedom of the press is an essential tool in the armoury of any democracy and attacks of this nature will not be tolerated.

“You have a bad record and are clearly a dangerous man.”

At the previous hearing it was revealed that Burns had an extensive criminal record. He was jailed for 15 years in 2001 after shooting a woman in a post office robbery in Renfrewshire.