A dog walker gruesomely stabbed... and a portrait of a nation stricken by knife crime
As blade offences rise despite SNP claims of safer streets...
IT was a route he had taken many times before when walking the dog, with no cause to fear for his safety.
But last week Mark Fleming became the latest victim of a crime which is soaring again in Scotland – despite SNP claims of a successful crackdown.
The 40-year-old landscape gardener was walking his dog Maya on a popular woodland path near his South Lanarkshire home when a knife-wielding thug appeared suddenly from behind a tree and demanded his mobile phone.
The device was worth no more than £60 but, when the father-oftwo refused, he was stabbed in the stomach with the blade slicing his liver, before the attacker ran off empty-handed.
It was confirmation of new figures obtained by The Scottish Mail on Sunday that show knife crime across Scotland is on the increase.
In the first three quarters of 201617, there were 2,469 incidents of people caught with offensive weapons, including knives – equivalent to almost 10 a day and compared to 2,358 in the same period 2015-16.
Yet one of the SNP’s mostrepeated claims is that the number of cases of handling any offensive weapon has fallen, making Scotland’s streets safer.
Last night, Mr Fleming who is now recovering at his home in Hamilton after spending two days in hospital, said: ‘It’s shocking to think this can happen when you are
‘Knives the weapon of choice again’
just walking the dog. I don’t feel safe any more and won’t be taking that route again.
‘Knives seem to have become the weapon of choice once again in Scotland, and the Scottish Government must do more to stop the thugs who are terrorising our communities.’
The assault took place in broad daylight at 3.45pm on Friday May 12, as Mr Fleming was throwing a stick for his seven-year-old former rescue dog to chase. No sooner had she run after it than a man emerged from behind a tree and told him to hand over his phone.
Mr Fleming recalls: ‘When I refused, he came towards me and punched me in the stomach – or so I thought, until I saw the blood.’
As Mr Fleming’s attacker ran off, the worried dog owner caught hold of his pet. He said: ‘She’s a big softie and he could easily have hurt her.
‘As I walked off, I felt a wetness coming through my T-shirt and trousers. There was blood on my hand when I took it away... and that’s when I realised I’d been stabbed.
‘I couldn’t believe it, I was in shock. I’ve heard of it happening to other people but never thought it could happen to me.’
It brought to mind the brutal murder of 19-year-old Glasgow University student Reamonn Gormley, who Mr Fleming knew through their shared love of Celtic FC.
The teenager was stabbed to death in an attempted robbery as he walked home in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, in February 2011. His killer Daryn Maxwell, 23, was a repeat offender released early from prison on another offence. But despite calls for tougher sentences for knife offenders, and meetings between the Gormley family and former Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, ‘Reamonn’s Law’ was never implemented. Scotland now lags behind England where new laws were introduced last July guaranteeing jail terms for repeat knife offenders.
Yesterday, Mr Fleming said: ‘It’s a disgrace what happened to Reamonn, especially because his killer was out on early release. How many more innocent people have to die before something is done?
‘The doctors said I was lucky. If the knife had gone deeper, it would have been a lot worse.’
Mr Fleming’s attacker, described as white, in his 20s with short brown hair, wearing a red top and dark tracksuit bottoms, has still not been traced.
The police figures, compiled as part of the force’s own management procedures, show 905 people were caught carrying offensive weapons in the first three quarters of 2016-17, up from 868 in the same period the previous year and a rise of more than four per cent.
But another 1,564 were found handling a ‘bladed or pointed instrument’, up from 1,490 in 201516, a rise of 5 per cent.
The two categories give a total for incidents of weapon-carrying of 2,469, up from 2,358 the previous year – an overall rise of 4.7 per cent. Detective Constable Grant Robertson at Cambuslang CID said: ‘It is vital we catch the suspect, as he may harm someone else.’
According to official Scottish Government statistics, recorded crime, including drugs, offensive weapons and theft is the lowest it has been in 42 years.
But yesterday Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross said the latest knife figures ‘made a mockery’ of the SNP’s ‘supposed crackdown’ on knife crime.
Chief Superintendent Barry McEwan, Head of Safer Communities at Police Scotland, said last night: ‘The carrying of knives and other weapons is wholly unacceptable and tackling the issue remains a priority for our officers.’
‘Remains a priority for our officers’