Knife blow left 26-yard trail of blood

Daily Record 07/03/1996
A Schoolboy had his throat ripped open in a street attack as he walked home from a football match, a murder trial heard yesterday.
Celtic fan Mark Scott, the son of a top Glasgow lawyer, died at the scene despite frantic attempts to save him.
A seven-inch wound from his chin to his ear severed Mark's jugular vein and left a 26-yard trail of blood, the High Court in Glasgow was told.
On trial is Jason Campbell, 23, of Heron Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow.
He denies murdering Mark in London Road, near Bridgeton Cross, by striking him on the body with a knife or similar instrument.
Campbell claims he was at home at the time of the alleged incident.
Mark's pals, James Friel and Iain Speirits, told the start of the trial how the three of them were heading home after watching Celtic beat
Partick Thistle 2-1 on October 7 last year.
They were walking along London Road towards the city centre to get a train home.
James told Iain Bonomy QC, prosecuting, that a man standing in a group of people outside a pub near Bridgeton Cross spat beer at them.
The beer hit Mark and Iain, but none of them reacted to it. They just kept walking forward.
James said he then heard footsteps running up from behind.
"When I turned round I saw a person standing behind Mark with his hand beside Mark's neck," he said
Asked by Mr Bonomy if he saw what happened with the hand, he replied: "I only saw the hand up at the neck then the person took the hand
away.
"Mark held his neck and blood came out. He staggered forward diagonally across the pavement and fell beside the gutter."
James said a group of women tried to staunch the blood with clothes. And then volunteer ambulance-women who had been at the match
also came to his aid.
He admitted that walking through that part of Glasgow might have brought them into contact with Rangers fans.
But he said they had never experienced any trouble before.
He said his Celtic scarf was in his jacket pocket. Mark and Iain had Celtic tops on, but they were covered by their clothing.
They did nothing aggressive or anything to attract attention to themselves. "We were just walking along and talking."
James told Mr Bonomy that he identified two people at an identity parade on the basis of their build and hair.
And in court he identified Campbell as one of the two people he picked out.
Cross-examined by Donald Findlay QC, defending, James admitted he only got a "momentary passing glimpse" of Mark's attacker.
Mark's other pal Iain told the trial he saw a man with something black in his hand near Mark's shoulder.
He added: "Mark started holding his neck and began to scream because he was in pain."
Consultant pathologist Professor Peter Vanezis of Glasgow University said he went to the scene and found a trail of blood 26 yards long.
During the post mortem he found a gaping seven-inch wound in Mark's neck which stretched from his chin to under his ear.
It had been caused by a single blow from a smooth-bladed knife.
Mark's jugular vein had been severed and the wound went through to the spine. He also had a deep defensive cut on his left hand and had
bled to death.
Dr Gordon McNaughton, a registrar at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, said the injury severed skin, muscle and blood vessels on the right side of
Mark's neck.
The doctor described his injuries as "non-survivable".

By Fern Lane

Knife victim confronts Ervine

PUP negotiator David Ervine had an uncomfortable time when he met the victim of a sectarian knife attack at a public meeting in London on Thursday 20 November.

Young Celtic supporter, Sean O'Connor, narrowly escaped death after he was attacked just yards from the spot in Glasgow where loyalist Jason Campbell murdered 16-year-old Catholic Mark Scott in 1995. O'Connor confronted Ervine about the PUP's support for Campbell when Ervine addressed a public meeting at the University of North London.

The attack, which left Sean with a gaping six inch wound to his neck which needed fifteen stitches, took place on 15 November as he left the Celtic v Motherwell match at Celtic Park. The assailant had been waiting in the doorway of a betting shop and, as a crowd of supporters passed by, he ran out and slashed the 18-year-old student with a Stanley knife, attempting to cut this throat in what was clearly a copycat attack - like Campbell's victim, Sean was wearing a Celtic shirt.

According to Glasgow police, there have been 38 similar assaults in the area since the Scott murder, all of them directed at Catholics.

Sean had left the football ground with a large number of other Irish supporters. Police and stewards directed them down the loyalist London Road, a practice which has become common in recent months. However, there were no police present on London Road itself, despite the frequency of attacks on Celtic supporters in the area and the prevalence of graffiti glorifying sectarian murderer Jason Campbell.

Sean said: ``As I was walking with the crowd... suddenly I heard a move behind me and out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy come running up to me. I thought he had come to punch me and I just managed to get my arm up to block him. He ran off down an alleyway and the people with me said he was still shouting sectarian abuse as he went... It was only when I felt my shirt was soaking wet and saw the blood that I realised what had happened. Then I felt a huge hole in my neck.

``When I was in the ambulance the paramedic said to me `you do realise that this is attempted murder, there's no doubt about that'. But when the CID interviewed me in hospital they basically admitted that they are not really interested in investigating these kind of sectarian attacks''.

``The doctor who treated me told me that if the blade had gone one millimetre deeper it would have severed a major artery. She said that when that happens you lose consciousness in 40 seconds and will die within minutes. She told me I was extremely lucky to be alive. As it was, I lost three pints of blood anyway.''

A number of the crowd chased the attacker, but he was driven away in a car which was waiting a short distance away, lending support to the claim that the incident was premeditated.

This attack and others like it can be linked to the fact that Jason Campbell has become a loyalist hero. David Ervine and the PUP recently pressed for Campbell's transfer from prison in Scotland to the Six Counties as a `confidence building measure' saying that he was ``well got'' within loyalist circles.

The PUP only withdrew their request when Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar refused to authorise the transfer and when the public outrage at support for someone who had committed such a nakedly sectarian murder became increasingly embarrassing.

During the question-and-answer session after David Ervine's speech in London, Sean O'Connor asked whether he acknowledged that this support for Campbell had significantly contributed to the number of similar attacks on Celtic supporters in Glasgow, including himself, carried out on the assumption that such supporters were Catholics.

Ervine replied, ``At the time I asked for his transfer I didn't know what Jason Campbell's crime was''. This was met with a chorus of disbelieving jeers from the audience. Sean asked what sort of politican Ervine thought he was and what sort of political party he was running if he did not make even the most basic enquiries about a prisoner to whom he was offering public support. He suggested that by supporting Campbell, the PUP was giving its implicit approval to others who committed similarly sectarian attacks.

At this point Ervine appeared to become somewhat unnerved. He denied he or his party could in any way be responsible for the increased sectarian attacks on Catholics in Glasgow, adding, ``I dont' give a damn about Jason Campbell''. The only explanation he could offer Sean was that the killer's father and uncle were past member of the UVF, and for this reason he had given his support to Cambpell. Nevertheless, he also told Sean ``I am very, very sorry for what has happened to you''.