Addict attacked good Samaritan

A drug addict who almost killed a good Samaritan in a knife attack has been jailed for eight years.

Gordon Condie had beaten and stabbed a woman when Neil McGarrie, 32, rushed to her aid.

But Condie turned his attention to Mr McGarrie, plunging a carving knife into his stomach, piercing his liver, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

Condie of Irvine Drive, in Linwood, was found guilty of attempted murder and of assaulting Karen Scott by a jury.

The only thing Neil did wrong was to act as a good Samaritan Caroline Brown Victim's girlfriend

The 37-year-old woman was said to have been unrecognisable after the attack.

Condie had tried to claim in court that he was acting in self-defence after Mr McGarrie allegedly attacked him.

The earlier trial heard that Condie and his friend Ms Scott went into Paisley to buy heroin in January 2002.

Later he confronted her, demanding: "Where's my hit?" He then slammed her head against a wall and hit her in the face with a wooden rocking chair as well as stabbing her in the shoulder and foot.

Condie then marched Ms Scott at knifepoint to her parents' house to get money. They were leaving with £17 when Mr McGarrie tried to intervene to help Ms Scott back to her flat and Condie turned on him with the knife.

Mr McGarrie staggered to his car and drove to his home in Linwood, where his shocked girlfriend Caroline Brown, 24 - who was pregnant at the time - called an ambulance.

Medics saved diabetic Mr McGarrie's life but he spent days in intensive care.

After the trial, his girlfriend branded him a "hero".

She said: "The only thing Neil did wrong was to act as a good Samaritan."