Man stabbed in throat after complaining about drug users injecting

A man was stabbed in the throat after he complained about drug-taking in Dundee.

Attacker Thomas Smith, 44, was with others who were openly injecting in broad daylight on waste ground near Lochee High Street on March 6 this year.

Jeffrey Claxton was with friends and became annoyed at what was going on.

Smith then went after Mr Claxton and struck him with a piece of metal from behind.

A judge heard how the 45-year-old victim luckily survived the horror attack.

Smith has now been jailed for five years and seven months after he pled guilty to an attempted murder charge at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday.

Mr Claxton had been walking in the busy high street with a number of friends at around 1.50pm that day.

Prosecutor John Macpherson said he then spotted a group nearby, some of which were “injecting themselves” with drugs.

Mr Macpherson said: “He approached, demonstrated with them and told them to leave the area.”

Mr Claxton continued to object before he walked off.

But, Smith – who had been with the drug users – raced after him and was heard to state: “F*** this.”

He stabbed the victim in the neck, who quickly became aware he was bleeding and went to a nearby chemist for help.

The incident was caught on CCTV and by a witness who recorded it on a mobile phone.

Smith was held by others at the scene until police arrived.

He claimed to officers: “I never done it.”

Mr Claxton suffered a fracture in the neck area, but is likely to make a full recovery although will be permanently scarred.

Smith’s lawyer said he had been drinking that day in the waste ground while others “abused drugs”.

Kris Gilmartin, defending, said the incident ended up “highly charged” with Smith initially on the “periphery” before he carried out the attack.

Lord Burns told Smith – who had latterly been working for a charity – that the jail term would have been seven and a half years, but for the guilty plea.

He added: “There was no reason to involve yourself. You were armed with a potentially lethal weapon and struck the man in a vulnerable part of his body.”