Police probe knife death of disabled man

POLICE are investigating the suspected murder of a man thought to have been stabbed in Niddrie.

Neighbours said yesterday that they believed the 64-year-old victim, who has not been named, was a disabled man.

Police and paramedics were called to Niddrie Marischal Drive at 5.45pm, but the man's life could not be saved.

Last night a large area surrounding the ground floor flat was cordoned off by police as neighbours hung out of their windows to view the scene, and crowds of children gathered around the police tape.

Neighbour Gordon Grant, 30, said: "Half an hour before the police turned up there was all this shouting. We thought it was bairns, because the bairns have been shouting all day, and we looked out, but we couldn't see anything. All I ken is it's the old man in the bottom flat. He's an old man, he's in his late 50s to early 60s. He walks with two walking sticks. He's disabled. He didn't deserve that."

A police spokeswoman last night said: "Police are investigating the death of a male following a disturbance that happened in Niddrie Marischal Drive, Edinburgh at around 5.45pm.

"At present enquiries are at an early stage, and we are appealing for anyone who was in the area at or around the time of the disturbance, who saw or heard anything suspicious, to contact police immediately."

An ambulance service spokesman said: "We responded to a call to Niddrie Marischal Drive for a male that had been stabbed."

Last week Lothian and Borders Police revealed that knife crime across the Lothians has fallen by more than a quarter in the past year.

The number of crimes involving a blade dropped to 216 between last April and the end of March, against 293 for the previous year.

The new figures, which were revealed by Chief Constable David Strang in a report to the Scottish Parliament's justice committee, showed that knives were involved in 12 per cent of violent crime across the force area last year – a 4 per cent drop.

In March, the Evening News revealed that the number of people convicted of carrying knives and offensive weapons had soared to a ten-year high in the Lothians.