Bus driver who stabbed neighbour in row over parking space jailed

A bus driver who inflicted “life-changing injuries” on a neighbour in a savage knife attack has been jailed for seven and a half years.

Stephen McAulay, 35, repeatedly wounded the man in a murder bid in Moorfoot Street, in Glasgow, after he sustained a minor facial injury in an earlier confrontation.

A judge told McAulay at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You would not let the matter rest.”

Instead McAulay armed himself with a knife and went looking for his victim.

He stabbed the man multiple times during the attempted murder on May 13 last year. Lord Young told him: “These are truly life-changing injuries.”

The judge said: “This appears to be an attack caused more by intoxication and loss of face than anything else.”

Lord Young told McAulay, who earlier admitted attempting to murder his victim, that he would have faced a ten-year prison term for the offence if he had been convicted after trial.

The court heard that the two men initially clashed over an ongoing dispute about a parking space in the street before McAulay returned and repeatedly struck the victim on the head and body with the knife.

The man sustained serious injuries during the attempted murder, including severe sight loss in one eye. He was found to have multiple wounds to the face, shoulder and left flank.

McAulay had earlier challenged the man about a letter placed on his car, which he thought was put there by his neighbour or his wife. He was told it was left by the city council which wanted cars moved to allow work to be carried out.

The men became involved in a struggle and later exchanged text messages before McAulay turned up at the victim’s home with a knife in the back of his trousers.

Defence solicitor advocate Ross Yuill said it was an obviously concerning incident which had arisen from “what appeared to be a relatively minor neighbour dispute”.

He said: “It is almost inexplicable that this could not have been dealt with in a far more appropriate fashion.”

Mr Yuill said McAulay has now had his first experience of custody which he found challenging. He said: “The consequence for him will be a period of custody but also he will miss the birth of his child.”

He said: “He wishes again to offer his apologies to the complainer having had significant time to reflect on his actions.”