CLEAVER THUG WHO ROBBED OAP IS JAILED FOR SIX YEARS
A ROBBER who used a meat cleaver to threaten a pensioner has been jailed for six years.Drug addict Gareth Wilson targeted terrified Nelson Donoghue, 71, in Irvine town centre and ordered him to withdraw money from a cash machine.
He told his victim: "I'll cut you" and "I'll cut your face".
The repeat offender threatened the retired policeman and struggled with him, making Mr Donoghue fall to the ground.
Mr Donoghue suffered cracked ribs and cuts to his fingers.
In the following days, he had three angina attacks and had to go into hospital.
Wilson, 29, formerly of McKinlay Crescent, Irvine, had earlier admitted attacking Mr Donoghue in the town last July 30 and robbing him of £50.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lady Dorrian told Wilson he would have been sentenced to eight years if he had not pleaded guilty.
She said: "Not only is this a serious offence, but you have a serious record for similar matters." The judge said a background report had also assessed Wilson as posing a high risk of reoffending.
Defence counsel Mark Moir said Wilson had been drinking heavily on the day of the offence.
Mr Moir said that following Wilson's release from a previous six-year sentence in 2004, he was put on methadone and given help "to prevent him slipping back into drug dependency".
He said Wilson was trying to pay off a previous drug debt when he committed the attack.
Lady Dorrian ordered Wilson should also be kept under supervision for three years after his release from jail.
