Former vice girl jailed after stiletto attack on doorman

A WOMAN jailed for blinding a doorman by stamping on his eye with a stiletto heel is a former prostitute who was given an ASBO for terrorising residents in Leith Links, it was revealed today.

Sarah Marsden was sentenced to 40 months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday after admitting the brutal attack on Graham Roach outside the Shanghai nightclub in George Street.

The 37-year-old was given an antisocial behaviour order nearly five years ago after using threatening language against residents while she touted for business selling sex to fund her drug addiction.

Mr Roach, 28, who has undergone an operation to replace his "dead" left eye with a cosmetic implant, today welcomed the prison sentence for his attacker.

Mr Roach, the club's head bouncer, had fallen to the ground with Marsden's partner, Anthony Walker, 49, while escorting them away from the door after they had been refused entry due to their drunken state.

While he lay there, the former vice girl stamped on his face and the heel went into his eye socket, splitting it open.

Mr Roach, who recently left work at the Le Monde complex, which includes Shanghai, to take over as head bouncer at the Three Sisters in the Cowgate, was in court yesterday to watch proceedings.

He told the Evening News: "I'm pretty happy with the sentence. I actually thought she would've got a lot less. I didn't know much about how the justice system worked before so I wasn't sure what might happen. She deserved a prison sentence for what she did.

"I felt like I wanted to be in court for the sentencing.

"I don't know whether it will be a deterrent for her when she gets out. I don't really know anything about her.

"Her lawyer said in court that she had sent me a letter apologising, but I never received that or heard anything about it. To be honest, anything she wrote would probably be to try to get a lesser sentence. I'm the one that has to live with only having sight in one eye.

"I have my replacement eye now and all the treatment has finished. But I'll have to go back each year for a check-up and it's still painful. The hospital staff have all been amazing so I'd like to thank them."

• In yesterday's reporting of the Martyn Barclay murder trial, we incorrectly stated that police had received a "tip-off" regarding an alleged bounty or price on the head of the victim, and further that the information was not "treated seriously" by the police. There was no such evidence heard.

In fact DCI Steven Reed gave evidence about information received following the shooting. We apologise for the error.