CARLA TALBOT

Spat between pair lead to brutal beating in shop

A man was left with a broken jaw and missing teeth after being savagely beaten in a shop.

Grant McIntosh had to undergo emergency surgery to repair his jaw after violent Craig Swankie rained blows down on his head until he was unconscious.

He was left with serious facial trauma, bruising, swelling and a “significant eye injury” following the brutal attack by in the Day-toDay Express store in Renfrew High Street.

The pair had got into a spat on June 16 last year after McIntosh punched Swankie when he stopped to ask him where the nearest offlicence was.

Following their bust-up, Swankie followed him into the newsagent where he rained blows on his head until he went “limp”.

The 32- year- old appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court where it was heard Swankie continued to punch McIntosh six more times after he was lying out cold on the floor.

Procurator fiscal depute David McDonald said: “At about 8pm, the accused was on Hairst Street in Renfrew near to the town’s High Street with Mr McIntosh.

“The pair were seen talking for a short time before Swankie was punched in the face.

“Mr McIntosh then went into the store and he was followed by the accused.

“He walked towards him, punching him on the face causing him to fall to the floor.

“He punched him again to the face, causing his head to go limp.

“The accused continued to punch him a further six times before leaving the store and walking away.

“Mr McIntosh was found to have serious trauma to his face and he appeared to be missing teeth.

“He had bruising and swelling to his jaw and a significant injury to his eye.

“He was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital where an x-ray revealed his jaw was broken and would require surgery.”

Swankie, of Paisley Road, Renfrew admitted assaulting Mr McIntosh

under provocation by punching him on the head causing him to fall to the ground, rendering him unconscious to his severe injury.

In a separate incident earlier that evening, Swankie also admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards two teenage boys by threatening to give them “full smiles”.

The young boys were frightened by a “drunk and angry” Swankie who was shouting abuse at them while hanging from a flat window in Renfrew’s Ferguson Street just 30 minutes before his attack on McIntosh.

Mr McDonald added: “Two boys aged 14 and 15 were walking on Ferguson Street in Renfrew when their attention was drawn to a male hanging out of a window.

“He was shouting and swearing at them and he appeared to be intoxicated.

“He told them to ‘f**k off’ and shouted ‘one of you wee f*****s just hit my window’.

“He appeared drunk and angry and he continued to shout, saying ‘I’m going to give one of you a full smile’.

“This frightened the boys, who saw Swankie then come out of the door still shouting and swearing.

“He walked towards them and the boys continued to walk away but when they turned back he had gone back into the common close of the building.”

Police turned up a short while later and gained access to the building but were unable to trace Swankie.

It was only after his attack on McIntosh around 8.25pm that he as traced by officers.

When he was arrested, Swankie told police: “I know I shouldn’t have hit him but he hit me.”

Mr McIntosh was also traced by police but would not cooperate, telling cops: “I didn’t mean to get the boy prosecuted anyway.”’

Defending Swankie, his lawyer Mr Adam said he accepted it was a serious matter.

He added: “He has never been convicted of any offence of violence.

“He does have offences for disorderly conduct similar to that described in charge one. He accepts this is a serious matter and the court is more than entitled to consider a custodial sentence.”

Addressing Swankie in the dock, Sheriff Colin Pettigrew said: “Let me make this clear - this is a serious charge, in particular charge three.

“But I will say nothing more at this stage until we have all the relevant information.”

Swankie will return to court on May 28 to find out his fate.