Actor ‘may have been attacked over gangster role’
An actor who was stabbed in a daylight attack on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile may have been targeted because he plays a gangster in a TV soap, friends last night claimed.
Tam Dean Burn is recovering at home after he was rushed to hospital on Saturday afternoon by ambulance.
The 60-year-old was making his way to Easter Road for the Hibsceltic Scottish Cup tie when he was attacked.
Friends who were with the River City, Outlander and Fortitude actor said they were heading to
the Waverley Bar at the time of the attack.
The incident happened after a tribute event to the Scottish poet Tom Leonard, who died last year. About 60 people – including Mr Burn, Liz Lochhead, Joy Hendry, Kevin Williamson and George Gunn – attended the event at the Scottish Poetry Library in Crichton Close in Canongate.
The eyewitness said: “We had just left the Poetry Library a few moments earlier and were looking forward to a pint before the football when it all kicked off. This guy just appeared out of a close. I turned round and he had Tam’s arm up his back. Folk were coming out of shops and stopping in the street.
“It was a scary scene and could have been so much worse, although we didn’t realise how serious it was at first. It was only when Tam said he had been stabbed that we knew he had been hurt.
“Tam later said he’d never seen him before and had no clue who he was.
“He was stabbed in the neck. It could have been really, really serious.”
The witness said the friends who were with Mr Burn bundled him back up the street to the Poetry Library and staff locked the door while his attacker stood outside.
An ambulance crew arrived at the scene within minutes. Police arrested the man shortly afterwards. It is believed a search later uncovered at least two weapons.
Police said a 42-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the incident.