Five years for knife attack intended to kill partner

A MAN who brutally stabbed his partner in a murder bid has been jailed for five years and three months.

David McCraw, 46, had claimed that an intruder was behind the attack.

He told police he had been out at the shops for ten minutes and returned to find Anne Reed covered in stab wounds.

Ms Reed had earlier begged McCraw to stop the knife attack and repeatedly told him she would tell officers a burglar was responsible.

McCraw continued with his story at a police station in Edinburgh but when the victim arrived at hospital she named him as her attacker.

The unemployed bricklayer admitted attempting to murder Ms Reed at their former home in Muirhouse Gardens, Edinburgh, on 19 July last year.

He grabbed her by the hair, repeatedly struck her on the head and body with a knife and repeatedly kicked her to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of her life.

At an earlier hearing advocate depute Leanne Cross said the three-year relationship had been volatile and at times violent.