The killer of Jamie Forbes is no stranger to the justice system and has been in and out of the courts and prisons since he was 16.
Lee Smith’s life of crime – which began in 2003 – has frequently involved brutal and gratuitous violence, but also encompassed driving offences, thefts, vandalism, robbery and weapons.
In 2004, when Smith was 17, he appeared in Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted shooting a bus driver with an airgun.
The First Bus worker had stopped opposite the Seaton Arms pub to let passengers off when he felt a pain in his left hand and saw he had been shot by a pellet.
Smith pled guilty to culpably and recklessly discharging a firearm.
Sheriff Douglas Cusine deferred sentence for 12 months for Smith to be of good behaviour, telling him: “This is an idiotic form of behaviour and you better not repeat it otherwise you will end up inside.”
Smith’s willingness to use extreme violence was on display again in 2007, when he was 20.
Smith attacked a sleeping man with a saucepan because he had been locked out of his flat.
Violence displayed in unprovoked assault
The case called at the city’s sheriff court in 2009 and detailed the vicious and unprovoked assault.
The fiscal depute said the man – a friend of Smith’s – was asleep in the living room when “he was awoken suddenly and without warning by a blow to his head”.
He looked up and saw Smith standing over him who then repeatedly punched and kicked his face.
Smith then hit him on the head with a saucepan at least five times.
Smith’s victim suffered two cuts to his scalp – one of which was four inches long and needed stitches, the court heard.
For that assault, Smith was ordered to carry out 120 hours of community service and was also fined £700.
During that same court hearing, Smith further admitted carrying out an assault on a man on Bridge Street in Aberdeen in June 2008.
Smith also admitted failing to appear at the court twice the previous year.
In 2011 Smith appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh and admitted assaulting a man to his severe injury, permanent impairment and danger of life.
The sustained assault was sparked by a row over a broken window and saw Smith and an accomplice beat the man with heavy duty motorcycle gloves.
His victim was left with blood pouring from his ears and spent three months in hospital, where surgeons inserted a plate into his jaw.
Smith – who originally faced an attempted murder charge – was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
He was jailed again in April 2019 – this time for 15 months – after being convicted of assault and robbery.
Smith attacked a total stranger in October 2020 after his victim refused to give him a cigarette.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar said Smith’s victim had been socialising with a pal in an Aberdeen bar before leaving and walking home along School Road.
Ms MacVicar said: “The last thing the complainer remembers is seeing two males in the street.
“The complainer and the accused got into an argument over an unknown matter.”
Ms MacVicar said as the man began to walk away, Smith picked up a stone from a nearby garden and threw it towards him, hitting his shopping bag and causing a liquid inside to spill.
Ms MacVicar said: “The accused was in possession of a shovel and struck the complainer with this, making contact with his shoulder.
“This caused the complainer to lose his balance and fall to the ground while he and the accused continued to pull at each other.
“The complainer struck his head on the kerb when he fell to the ground.”
Smith’s victim was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he was found to have a 7cm laceration to his scalp, which needed 14 sutures to close and a fractured shoulder bone.
Smith pled guilty to assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, as well as failing to comply with a curfew.
When he was stopped by police shortly after the attack on School Road, Smith claimed he’d acted in self-defence, even bragging: “I can handle myself.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin jailed Smith for three years and also imposed a 12-month supervised release order.
Lee Smith had two bail orders at the time of Jamie Forbes’ killing
At the time of Jamie Forbes’ killing, Smith was subject to two bail orders that were imposed in December 2023 – one for housebreaking and vandalism and the other for drug-driving and possession of a knife.
Smith appeared in court last month to admit stealing a Deliveroo driver’s car and then crashing it into other vehicles. He was also was high on cocaine at the time.
Defence solicitor Laura Gracie told the court that at the time of these offences her client was “struggling with drug misuse” and had consumed both cocaine and valium.
For that crime, Smith was sentenced to 26 months in prison and disqualified from driving for 25 months.