Man who left woman with brain damage in murder bid caught on CCTV jailed

A man caught on CCTV brutally assaulting and abusing a woman he met for a date has been jailed for nine years.

Michael Harvey, from Cambuslang, was found guilty of attempted murder after footage from Glasgow city centre cameras showed him attacking the woman.

The 32-year-old was also filmed by CCTV in city hotels, shouting aggressively and gesticulating wildly at the victim over the course of a night out.

Harvey—who had been subject to a community payback order at the time following an earlier offence—was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.

Lord Colbeck said the woman’s victim impact statement detailed the “devastating consequences” of what he had done.

Jurors heard how the pair had checked into the Ibis Hotel in the city’s West Regent Street late on September 30, 2023.

They had appeared in good spirits—she was said to have had “a radiant smile,” was enjoying a bottle of beer, and was playing pool.

But, the trial heard “something annoyed” Harvey after they went to their room and when the pair went outside he was a “very angry man”.

This included him accusing her of wanting to “s**g” guests sitting at the front door.

Victim’s ordeal caught on CCTV

CCTV and audio recordings showed Harvey subjecting the woman to an ordeal spanning several hours.

This included footage of Harvey turning on the woman during an unprovoked assault on Waterloo Street where she was thrown to the ground, grabbed, kicked and dragged and, at times, left unconscious.

Others in the street became aware of what was happening and police turned up – but the court heard it appeared Harvey managed to “talk his way out of handcuffs” despite the woman’s condition.

The court heard the officers’ “actions” that night are being “investigated separately”.

Harvey did end up in hospital with the woman, but left before she was properly checked out.

She was described as “barely functioning” by the time he led her away.

In the early hours of the morning of October 1, 2023, hotel footage showed him carrying the badly injured victim towards a room they had booked, where the assaults continued.

There was banging in their room, and a man heard screaming: “I will kick your c*** in”.

The woman was eventually found unresponsive by a hotel worker.

Harvey was later said to have given an account to police described as “preposterous” with an “abundance of inconsistencies and lies”.

This also included claims the woman had fallen outside when “the fresh air hit her” and that she had been “lovey dovey” while they were in accident and emergency.

The court heard the victim suffered “traumatic brain injuries”. She continues to have issues with memory loss, which will not improve and is likely to be on anti-seizure medication for life.

‘Blinded by rage’

In her closing speech, prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel stated: “Michael Harvey subjected the woman to a series of brutal attacks.

“She was left in a condition where she could not walk, she could not talk, she could not properly function.

“Once in that condition, he compelled her to move at his direction – he paid little attention to her appalling deterioration, which you may have found distressing to watch.

“I suggest an unprovoked and murderous assault on a vulnerable woman, so blinded by rage, that he did not care whether she lived or died.”

Sentencing, Lord Colbeck told him: “Lying to others about what had happened to the woman was calculating and self-serving.

“In my assessment, those factors are redolent of a high degree of culpability.”

Harvey has also been banned from approaching or contacting the victim indefinitely.