The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Pair found guilty of vicious sword attack in Fife
Duo attacked Scott Wilson in his home
A pair of Fife men battled with swords in the middle of a Kirkcaldy street.
Mark Wilson and Scott Wilson fought with the blades on Miller Street in an argument over a watch.
Mark Wilson and Leeanne Napier were found guilty of attempted murder after storming into Scott Wilson’s home and hacking at him with a box cutter, a dagger and a sword. The pair then fled the scene, leaving Mr Wilson with slashes down his back, face and neck.
Police arrived to find a blood-smeared hallway, stairs and front door.
Mr Wilson, who had defended himself with an ornamental sword he kept in the property, opened the door on his hands and knees, revealing a bloodbath inside.
Wilson, who has a string of previous convictions, and Napier were found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Livingston.
A Fife couple have been convicted of hacking and slashing a man with a box cutter, a dagger and a sword.
Mark Wilson and Leeanne Napier carried out the bloody attack after bursting into Scott Wilson’s flat in Kirkcaldy, a jury heard.
Napier lunged and thrust at the victim with an 18-inch dagger, slicing through his arm as he tried to parry the blow.
The two attackers then chased Scott Wilson into his living room as he desperately looked for a weapon with which to defend himself.
They overpowered him and pinned him to the floor before Mark Wilson tried to plunge a sword into his chest.
The victim told the court: “I was lying on my back and Mark Wilson had a samurai sword in his hand. He was trying to thrust it into me, into the chest area, but I managed to grab the blade with my right hand and pushed it to the side.
“He pulled a Stanley knife out. He cut me on both cheeks – my left cheek from the eye next to my nose diagonally down to the edge of my chin and round on to my neck.”
He said he managed to roll over but said Mark Wilson slashed him through his clothing from his left shoulder across to his right shoulder blade then twice from the top to the bottom of his back.
Bleeding profusely, the victim said he managed to get to his feet and grab an ornamental sword he had in his house.
The two men then engaged in a sword fight which spilled out on to Miller Street in the Fife town.
The High Court in Livingston heard that Mark Wilson and Napier, who earlier threatened their victim in a dispute over a watch, fled when they learned that police were on their way.
The jury took just 30 minutes to return unanimous verdicts finding Mark Wilson, 26, a prisoner at Perth, and Napier, 26, of Gourlay Street, Kirkcaldy, guilty of attempting to murder Scott Wilson on April 21, and carrying bladed weapons in public.
The charge said they forced their way into his home and repeatedly struck him on the head and body with a sword and knives all to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement, having previously evinced malice and ill-will towards him.
Napier also pled guilty to assaulting Dawn Smith by dragging her out of a car and smashing her face off the ground in an earlier incident.
Judge Lady Rae called for an expert assessment of the risk Wilson – who has a string of previous convictions for violence and carrying weapons – posed to the public and deferred sentence on both accused for background reports.
She told them: “You’ve been convicted of very serious charges.
“In your case Mark Wilson, you may well meet the criteria of being a serious risk to the public.
“Accordingly I have to ask for a risk assessment.”