Man who stabbed pal over pirate jokes is acquitted

A MAN who plunged a knife into a pal’s neck after being ribbed about his artificial leg was cleared of attempted murder today.

The High Court in Livingston, where Judge Lord Turnbull acquitted Grierson. Picture: Gordon McBrearty

John Grierson had denied assaulting Michael Mulholland to the danger of his life, claiming the injury was accidental.

A jury at the High Court in Livingston took just under two hours to return a majority verdict finding the attempted murder charge not proven.

Grierson, 27, from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, gave evidence that his alleged victim had joked about him being a peg-legged pirate and tried to pull his prosthetic leg off.

He said he went to the kitchen of a flat where they were drinking in Hawick and got two knives to ‘scare’ Mr Mulholland.

But in the struggle which followed Mr Mulholland was stabbed in the throat.

Mr Mulholland, 32, said he thought at first that he had just been punched on the neck during the drunken argument.

But then he saw Grierson had a kitchen knife in his hand and realised that blood was flowing from a wound in his throat.

Judge Lord Turnbull formally acquitted Grierson.