Music fan escapes jail after fracturing Edinburgh Castle security guard's skull barging in to see The Who

Scott Joyce, 43, left the security employee Lesley Porteous with shocking injuries when he knocked her to the ground while trying to gain entry to the gig at Edinburgh Castle in July, 2023.

Joyce had left the venue to vape and was told he could not re-enter the arena due to staff organising security barriers at the end of the night. But he burst past the security cordon and while being chased on the castle’s esplanade by several stewards he ran head on into Ms Porteous as she tried to block him.

Ms Porteous was barged to the ground and left unconscious after she smashed her head off the tarmac. Security staff grabbed hold of Joyce and detained him until police officers rushed to the scene of the assault to arrest him.

Ms Porteous suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, spent two weeks in hospital and has lost her sense of smell and taste due to the savage assault.

Joyce pleaded guilty to assaulting Ms Porteous to her severe injury and permanent impairment when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month and returned to the dock for sentencing today, Friday, February 28.

Scott Joyce, 43, outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court. | Alexander Lawrie

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The court was told Joyce, who has recently moved from Glasgow to Derbyshire, was a long distance HGV driver and is “very remorseful for the harm he has caused” to the victim.

Sheriff Iain Nicol said: “I would expect you are quite lucky to be appearing on a summary complaint as this would be normally prosecuted on an indictment. But the position is your culpable and reckless conduct has caused severe injury and permanent impairment to the lady.

“Balanced against that is the level of remorse you have shown and I appreciate you had already been in the concert and left to vape and were denied re-entry. That is maybe not as serious as simply jumping the barriers and charging through when you had no right to do.”

Sheriff Nicol placed the trucker on an 18 month supervision order and sentenced him to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work in the community over the next 12 months. The sheriff also ordered Joyce to pay a compensation requirement of £3000 to Ms Porteous.

Previously, prosecutor Mark Keane told the court rock legends The Who were closing their show in front of 8500 fans when Joyce attempted to gain entry at around 8.20pm on July 8, 2023.

Mr Keane said: “The accused ran towards the line of stewards at the esplanade and ran through them to gain entry. He was pursued by a number of security staff for around 50 metres and Lesley Porteous stood in the way of the accused who ran into her.

“He knocked her off her feet and she struck her head off the ground and was knocked unconscious from the impact. The accused was restrained until the police arrived.”

The court was told Ms Porteous was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh where she was found to have suffered a fractured skull and had bleeding in the brain.

Mr Keane said the the steward had eight stitches inserted to a head wound, spent two weeks in hospital and has “lost her sense of smell and taste, and suffers from anxiety” as a result of the attack.

The Who played two sold out concerts to a total of 17,000 fans at the purpose-built Edinburgh Castle outdoor venue on July 8 and 9, 2023.