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Father's fury over 'soft' sentences for knife thugs |
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Written by Andrea O'Neill
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 A FAMILY has been left devastated after the two vicious thugs who stabbed their 13-year-old son escaped a lengthy jail term.
Savage yobs Tyson Campbell, 17, and Lloyd Simon Reid (pictured), 18, brutally beat, knifed and bottled a Hamilton schoolboy at an East Kilbride town centre underpass on August 15 last year.
At Hamilton sheriff court on Monday, Campbell was sentenced to 27 months and Reid, 23 months in a Young Offenders Institution for the frenzied attack.
Sentencing the thugs, Sheriff Douglas Brown said: “This was an unprovoked attack on a 13-year-old boy. He was viciously attacked and both defendants used a weapon and inflicted serious injuries.
“The bottle caused very significant permanent disfigurement and the fact that a knife was used is very serious. Detention is the only appropriate method.”
The North Lanarkshire pair showed no emotion or remorse as they were led from court.
The victim’s father was so outraged at what he described as a “soft sentence” that he shouted his protest as Campbell and Reid were taken to the cells.
He told the East Kilbride Mail yesterday: “They never got long enough. The scumbags should have got three or four years.
“As far as I’m concerned, it was attempted murder. They left my 13-year-old boy for dead.”
The victim, a top-performing second-year pupil, was set upon by a crazed mob of around 16 youths at Churchhill Avenue in broad daylight. He was left with two prominent scars on his lower back after sustaining double lacerations.
Reid, of Carluke, who originally denied having used a weapon, pleaded guilty to using a bottle to inflict a ‘L’ shaped wound on the schoolboy’s left lower back.
Campbell initially claimed he was attempting to help the victim, but later admitted using a knife to cause a one inch deep gash on his right side.
The victim’s father says the mental and physical scars inflicted on his son are a constant reminder of the vicious attack. The young teenager is currently on a waiting list for post-traumatic stress and has missed weeks of school.
He added: “My son is so traumatised he’s too scared to leave the house. We can’t even get proper counselling for him because of his age. He’ll never forget this – it’s a huge thing that’s affected his whole life.
“The government say they want to give five years for carrying knives, well these animals used one. They stabbed him and left him lying bleeding on the ground.
“It’s unbelievable how lenient the the sentences are when the pair of them already have a criminal record and it was a totally unprovoked attack. I only hope they get what they deserve.”
He continued: “I was disgusted when I saw the parents of these monsters there to support them. I hope they realise how they would feel if it was their kid.”  The East Kilbride underpass where the attack took place
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