Single-punch killer back in jail for attack and robbery
A TEENAGE thug who was freed early after killing a delivery driver has been jailed for armed robbery and assaulting a woman.
John Reid was only 16 when he killed Simon San with a single punch outside the victim’s family’s restaurant in 2010.
He was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison but was released after serving only three years.
In March, he repeatedly punched a woman on the head and a week later robbed a man at knifepoint in his own home.
Reid, now 23, pleaded guilty to both crimes at the High Court in Glasgow last month. He was aided in the home attack by Michael Roberts, 22, who admitted involvement. At the time, Reid was on bail and Roberts on a curfew.
At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Lord Burns jailed Reid for five years and four months. He also ordered that he be supervised for three years after his release.
Roberts received a three-year sentence, with a one-year supervision order upon release.
Lord Burns told the pair he had no option but to jail them. Speaking about the robbery, the judge said: ‘This must have been a terrifying incident for the complainer.
‘You barged into his house brandishing a knife and threatened him. You, Reid, were assisted by Roberts in this enterprise.
‘You both have a substantial number of previous convictions for very serious offences. The only sentence I can impose in this case is one of custody for both of you.’
Reid killed Mr San, 40, outside the Yong Huan Chinese Takeaway in Lochend, Edinburgh, in August 2010. The victim – a British citizen who was born in Vietnam but moved to Scotland at the age of 12 – suffered fatal head injuries and died the next day.
The court heard how he had been attacked by a group of ‘feral’ youths that included Reid and Roberts.
Police apologised to Mr San’s family in 2011 for failing to treat the assault as racially motivated.
Only 11 days after the killing, Reid bragged on Facebook from behind bars that he was ‘doin’ my time then comin’ out to shine’.
Roberts, who was also 16 at the time, got 42 months for assault. He also admitted stealing Mr San’s car keys and phone as he lay dying.
Last month, prosecutor Duncan McPhie told the court Reid attacked Louise Ferguson in Muirhouse, Edinburgh, at 9pm on March 1. She had challenged him for revving a motorbike – a bike she knew had been stolen. Reid punched her twice on the left side of her face.
Mr McPhie also told how Reid and Roberts targeted Michael Glancy in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh on March 9.
Mr Glancy had withdrawn £250 from a cash machine before going home. His buzzer sounded and a voice said: ‘It’s John, Mickey.’
Mr McPhie said: ‘He assumed it was his friend, John, and allowed entry and opened his door.’
Roberts, from Muirhouse, Edinburgh, was holding a four-inch blade and pushed his way in, joined by Reid. They demanded money and left. Police identified them from CCTV footage.
Yesterday, Roberts’s lawyer Euan Roy told Lord Burns his client had a troubled childhood and had never seen his baby son.
Reid’s lawyer, Jim Stephenson, said his client would learn new skills in custody because ‘he wants to provide for his daughter’.
‘Must have been terrifying’