The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fancy dress revellers brutally attacked by uninvited guests
crime: Sustained attacks shown in court as trio told they face lengthy prison terms
A man dressed as Dracula ended up covered in blood when he and two costumed pals were viciously attacked after a Halloween fancy dress party ended in violence.
Rossco Stern, Charlie Hill and Gary Thoms were caught on camera carrying out a vicious attack using knives and baseball bats after turning up uninvited at a party in St Boswells Terrace, Dundee.
Yesterday they were facing lengthy jail terms after being convicted over the horrific scenes, which were caught on CCTV.
The incident left a scene described by police as “carnage”.
CCTV footage captured the trio entering and leaving just half an hour later after being thrown out for sparking an argument in the flat.
A string of costume-wearing revellers – with outfits including a nurse, a man in drag, a bridge, the Joker, and a crime scene investigator – then spill on to the street as tensions escalate.
Liam Holt – dressed as Dracula – and friends Fraser Nicoll and Michael Craib were then set upon by the trio as they tried to run away from the weaponwielding gang.
Witnesses said they thought one of the victims had died as a result of what depute fiscal Vicki Bell described as a “frenzied attack”.
A sheriff told the three attackers that they face years in jail for what he described as “perhaps the worst outburst of violence that I have had to witness”.
CCTV footage was shown repeatedly to a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court during a four-day trial. In it various partygoers are seen wandering the street as an argument ensues in a close off camera.
Then the costumed men and women flee as Stern, Hill and Thoms sprint down a path with weapons drawn.
During a minute-long attack Mr Holt is seen being thrown to the ground before one of the gang repeatedly strikes him on the head with a baseball bat while another, identified as Thoms, takes wild kicks at his head.
Knives are seen being brandished and repeatedly used on the victims who eventually break free and flee the scene.
Pictures of Mr Craib’s injuries show a deep gash on his neck.
He told the court: “It was only just above my jugular.
“I had been wearing a boiler suit as part of my costume. I went back to the flat and took it off.
“When I went back outside Liam was on the ground – I thought he was dead.”
Jodie Feeney, who had been hosting the party, said: “Rossco Stern was shouting and screaming. He was saying ‘I’m from Glasgow – I’ll show you how it’s done’.”
Stern, 23, of Queen Mary Avenue, Glasgow, and Hill, 33, of Strathcarron Place, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to two charges each of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement on the third day of their trial.
Thoms, 33, of St Boswells Terrace, Dundee, continued to deny the charge of assaulting Liam Holt to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
A jury of seven men and eight woman took three hours to find him guilty of the charge.
Lawyers for all three men said they would give their pleas in mitigation at a later sentencing date.
Sheriff George Way deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and remanded all three in custody.
He said: “This is a crime of very serious gravity.
“It is perhaps one of the worst outbursts of violence I have ever had to witness through CCTV. “It was sustained and brutal. “You should be in no doubt that a custodial sentence of some length is at the forefront of my mind.”