East Lothian crime: Teenager left with serious head injury after bottle attack in Tranent

A teenager was left with a serious head injury after a bottle attack

An East Lothian thug left a teenager with a serious head injury after striking him with a bottle outside the Ross High rugby club rooms.

Gareth Gray lashed out while holding the bottle after teen Hamish McNeill had made disparaging remarks about the suit Gray’s father was wearing. The 41-year-old and his family had hired out the function area of the club to celebrate his father’s 65th birthday when the violence erupted shortly after midnight on May 14 last year. Mr McNeill, 19, was left with blood streaming down his face following the attack after being struck on the ear with the makeshift weapon.

Gray, of Lindores Drive, Tranent, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Mr McNeill to his injury. The court was told Gray was leaving the party at around 12.30am and was engaged in conversation with his victim and his group of friends outside the club rooms. The court heard “a comment” was made by Mr McNeill and Gray had become “aggressive” towards the teenager.

The incident took place at the Ross High rugby club rooms

Gray then struck Mr McNeill to the head with the bottle he was holding in his hand and a first aider who was present rushed over to help treat the bloody wound. Police were called and after viewing CCTV footage of the incident later traced Gray who had left the scene following the attack.

Lawyer Jonathan Campbell, defending, said Gray’s relatives had hired out the club for his dad’s 65th birthday celebrations. He said the teenage victim and his friends had not been at the party but had spent the evening drinking alcohol elsewhere on the premises. Mr Campbell added the partygoers and club patrons “mixed” at the end of the night and Mr McNeill had made “remarks” about his client’s father’s suit and was overheard “making fun of it.”

The lawyer said Gray had been drinking from the bottle, which he had taken from the club, when he swung the blow.

Unemployed Gray, who has previously worked as a kitchen fitter and a window cleaner, was ordered to pay Mr McNeill £300 in compensation by Sheriff Adrian Fraser. Gray admitted to assaulting Hamish McNeill by striking him on the head with a glass bottle, to his injury, at Blawearie Road, Tranent on May 14 last year.

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