Falkirk crime: Pair jailed for more than 17 years for Larbert murder bid

Liam Mathewson and Connor Swanston were armed with weapons when they carried out a bloody attack on Robert Swan at a flat in Paton Drive, Larbert.

The victim sustained multiple stab wounds in the assault on June 25 last year and required hospital treatment.

A judge told the pair at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You subjected him to a brutal attack with a knife and screwdriver or drill bit."

Lord Mulholland said the loss of blood suffered by the stabbing victim was so serious that he had to be airlifted to hospital.

He told Mathewson, 23, and Swanston, 24, that were it not for the skill of those who treated him they would have been facing a murder charge.

Mr Swan sustained 20 wounds to his chest, back, head and arms during the attack on him at the flat.

Mathewson, a prisoner, and Swanston, formerly of Brodick Place, Tamfourhill, were earlier convicted of attempting to murder him. Both were freed on bail at the time of the murder bid.

Mathewson was jailed for ten years and ordered to be under supervision for a further two years and three months when he can be returned to prison if he breaches licence conditions.

Swanston was jailed for seven years and will also be monitored in the community for a period of two years and two months.

Mathewson and another accomplice Dillon Martin also carried out a racially aggravated assault and robbery on a food delivery worker. Martin, 25, a prisoner, was jailed for four years for his role in the crime.

The pair attacked Arslan Farman on June 25 last year at Fairlie Street, Camelon, and robbed him of money and food. The victim was punched, kicked and knocked to the ground and was racially abused.

Lord Mulholland told Mathewson and Martin: "That you both subjected this man to this ordeal was disgraceful. All he was doing was earning a living."

The judge said the racial aggravation made "a serious crime more serious”.

Defence counsel Sean Templeton, for Mathewson, said he had "a difficult beginning in life" and was in and out of the care system.

He said: "The offences have highlighted the need for him to make a genuine change in his lifestyle."

The defence counsel said that much of his offending appeared to take place when he was under the influence of drink or drugs.

Defence solicitor advocate George Pollock, for Swanston, said: "This will be the first custodial sentence imposed upon him.”

Iain Smith, defence counsel for Martin, said that he had taken drink and drugs at the time of the robbery and can remember "bits and pieces".

He said that a background report prepared on Martin said that he presented as being "genuinely remorseful" for the offence.