Jailed over row with his pal’s neighbours
Friend beaten up during incident and died later
A Newmains man, who ran to the aid of his beaten up friend who later died in the hospital, has been jailed for nine months.
Iain Cramb, 45, pleaded guilty to having a knife in his possession at Princess Square, Newmains, on September 6.
The court heard how father-of-two Cramb had been living with his lifelong friend David Hamilton when an altercation broke out between neighbours around 5pm on that fateful night.
Cramb was standing at the kitchen window and witnessed Mr Hamilton, 46, being punched and knocked to the ground.
Cramb then grabbed an eight-inch brown-handled knife from the kitchen for his protection and ran outside with it behind his back to help his unconscious friend.
The group dispersed and shaken Cramb tried to wake Mr Hamilton up before calling an ambulance.
Whilst waiting on the emergency services arriving, Mr Hamilton came around and Cramb managed to get him into the house.
He said there had been ongoing difficulties between the group.
Police Scotland officers arrived at the scene and Mr Hamilton and Cramb were arrested.
Cramb was detained in custody and appeared in the dock at Hamilton Sheriff Court the following day.
Mr Hamilton was taken to Wishaw General Hospital.
He sustained a broken jaw and a fractured eye socket. He passed away six days later. Cramb’s solicitor told Sheriff Bicket the men had been best friends since childhood.
He said he was deeply saddened by his friend’s death.
Sheriff Bicket told Cramb that a custodial sentence was the only option available to him.
He did, however, give a degree of leniency due to the circumstances on that night and jailed Cramb for nine months.
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