Boy admits murder bid on 85-year-old

Ateenager who absconded from a school tried to murder an 85-year-old woman in her home by stabbing her, a court heard yesterday.

The boy, 15, inflicted multiple wounds on the pensioner with a knife from the kitchen at her rural cottage near Montrose.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh deferred sentence on the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Advocate depute Gavin Anderson told the court: “The complainer has previously stated that she was traumatised by the events and would never feel safe within her home address.”

The prosecutor said the teenager was earlier made the subject of a care order by a court in England and placed in the care of an English local authority.

He stayed in care settings before becoming resident at a school in Scotland in 2020, where he was under supervision.

The teenager broke free from a staff member at the Scottish school after saying that he was planning to return to England.

On the night of the attack, on September 15 last year, the victim went into her kitchen to make a cup of tea and found the intruder standing there.

Mr Anderson said: “She noticed that the accused was holding a knife, which she realised was one of her own.”

He approached the victim who reached for her wallet and took out four £20 notes before telling him if he was after money he should take it and leave.

Mr Anderson said the boy then repeatedly stabbed the complainer to her upper body.

He then threw the knife down and fled, while the victim made a 999 call.

She was taken to hospital where she was found to have penetrating wounds to her torso. Her wounds were stitched and she was given antibiotics and discharged from hospital on September 22.

Officers spotted the teenager walking on the A92 road at Montrose in the early hours of September 16.

He pled guilty to assaulting and attempting to murder the woman after entering the property uninvited, brandishing a knife at her and repeatedly striking her on the body with the weapon to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of her life and robbing her of £80.

He was told he would be held in his current secure accommodation ahead of a further court appearance in June.

ATTACK: Case was heard at the High Court in Edinburgh.