Attacker tried to murder bus passenger with pool cue

Published on Saturday 1 March 2008 10:19

A PAINTER and decorator attacked a passenger on a bus with a pool cue, leaving him with a fractured skull.

Other passengers tried to stop Ian Clark's assault on Jamie Robertson during the journey into the city centre from Dalkeith.

The 21-year-old admitted attempted murder at the High Court yesterday.

Mr Robertson, also 21, suffered life threatening injuries and still has problems with his speech, memory and balance.

Cheryl Collins, his partner and mother of his one-year-old child, had tried to shield him and was still sitting next to him with blood on her face.

Clark and friends, swigging bottles of tonic wine, boarded the double decker bus on May 11 last year.

Advocate depute Simon Collins said: "A witness overheard them saying that they were going into town to fight."

Mr Robertson spoke to Clark, who he knew from school.

A woman heard Clark say: "I'm going to go up there and kill him with this." She saw him screw a pool cue together.

Clark walked to where Mr Robertson was sitting with his girlfriend and hit him from behind several times, breaking the cue.

The judge, Lord Macphail, deferred sentence for reports and remanded Clark in custody.