Man fined after stabbing ex over 'love trap'

A man stabbed his ex-partner in the chest after finding out she had set up a love trap for him.

Derek McGuiness, 43, was tricked by ex-girlfriend Diane Moffat in a bid to stop his amorous advances.

She arranged for one of her friends to approach him in a club and come on to McGuinness.

But the ploy turned sour when McGuinness realised that the whole thing was a trap, and stabbed his ex with a pen knife.

Today at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, McGuinness plead guilty to the assault and was handed a 650 fine.

The court heard how McGuinness and Ms Moffat had been an item, but had split up a few months previously.

The ex-lovers, who have an eight year old son together, had bumped into each other on a night out at the Woodburn Miners Club in Dalkeith in May.

Tired of McGuinness’s constant advances since their split, Moffat hatched a plan to put her ex off and sent one of her female friends up to flirt with him, the court was told.

Moffat had hoped that she could accuse McGuinness of chatting up other women and put an end to their stormy relationship once and for all.

But what she did not anticipate was McGuiness’s violent reaction to the plot when it was uncovered.

The accused, of Hill Street, Pathhead, grabbed a pen knife from his pocket and plunged it into his ex’s chest, before fleeing the club.

But an attack of guilt led McGuinness to turn himself into police just two hours later, where he was charged with assault.

Today at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, he plead guilty to the attack, but denied two other instances of violence towards Ms Moffat.

Gordon Jackson, acting for McGuinness, said that his client had been depressed at the time of the attack after the “heartbreaking” split from his partner.

He said: “This was completely out of character for Mr McGuinness and he regrets what he has done.”

Sheriff Noel McPartlin acknowledged that the accused had handed himself in, and sentenced him to 650.