A HEAD-kick attacker who was stabbed during a street fight in Greenock has been jailed after the sheriff court heard how the knifeman was left with a fractured skull.
Brian McLeod sustained a puncture wound to his chest during the brawl on West Stewart Street and retaliated by booting the man who'd knifed him.
McLeod, 44, was originally one of three co-accused, including the now deceased firebomber George Miller who torched himself to death in a separate incident.
McLeod became embroiled in a fight with the knife carrier and another man shortly after 8pm on October 25 of 2019, the court was told.
With the area busy with cars and pedestrians, he threw several punches at the first victim, who fell to the ground, and then kicked, punched and stamped on him.
The incident was caught on CCTV cameras and a stand-up fight then ensued, during which McLeod was knifed by the other man.
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The court was told that McLeod suffered a one-centimetre puncture wound to his upper left chest and did not require medical treatment.
The knifeman was later acquitted by a jury of stabbing him.
A procurator fiscal depute said that the blade carrier was repeatedly punched to the head causing him to hit the ground before McLeod kicked him with force in the face while he was sitting on a kerb.
The fiscal depute said the man then 'laid back motionless on the ground'.
He was transferred from Inverclyde Royal to the neuro-intensive care unit at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital with a broken jaw, fractured skull and bruising to his brain, however, his injuries were later assessed as not life-threatening.
Defence lawyer Paul Keenan said: "The complainer was prosecuted on indictment for assaulting McLeod by striking him on the body with a knife.
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"He was acquitted but that is not to say that he did not stab Mr McLeod. Brian McLeod was indeed stabbed. This is accepted by the Crown.
"Provocation is extreme mitigation.
"He was significantly provoked; one can think of nothing more provocative than being stabbed to the chest.
"He accepts that what he did thereafter falls short of self-defence."
Mr Keenan said that his client's 'behaviour was out of control' on the night and 'he is contrite'.
The solicitor added: "He understands the negative impact drug abuse can have and did have on that night.
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"His problem with substances is not an excuse but an explanation.
"Ultimately, drug misuse led to his downfall."
Sheriff Anthony McGeehan told McLeod that the threshold for custody had been met and that there was no alternative.
The sheriff said: "You are already subject to two non-custodial sentences and your record and the [criminal justice social work] report demonstrate that in my view you are unlikely to comply with an order of the court.
"Custody is the only appropriate sentence."
McLeod was jailed for a total of 14 months.
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