A man who beat up a pensioner in Aberdeen so severely that his eyelid became partially detached has been sentenced to prison for almost three years.
Paul Milne faced a host of charges earlier this year when he appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court following the attack, and was back in the dock on Monday to discover his fate.
The 46-year-old, who is from Hatton but has been in custody since last August for another crime, sat silently at Peterhead Sheriff Court as he heard he would spend 31 months in total behind bars.
OAP tried to play peacemaker
Giving a narrative of Milne’s attack on his 76-year-old victim, fiscal depute Brian Young said the man stumbled upon a scene of Milne arguing in the street at about 3pm on March 9, and made efforts to calm matters down.
He was assaulted in broad daylight for his trouble.
“[He] attempted to calm the situation down,” he said.
“The accused approached and became aggressive.”
The pensioner was able to defend himself initially by pushing Milne to the ground, but when he attempted to restrain him there, he was unable to do so and was punched multiple times.
“The accused managed to get up off the ground and proceeded to repeatedly punch [him] to the head, causing him to fall to the ground,” Mr Young added.
“His lower right eyelid was partially detached, it required surgery, and he will be left with a permanent scar.”
Milne would run away from the scene when members of the public began approaching.
But later that day, in the nearby Bon Accord Centre, Milne would repeatedly push a security guard and also strike him on the head.
And when he was eventually collared by police, he was taken to Kittybrewster Police Station where, while being restrained, he attempted to bite an officer.
Victim’s reaction to sentence
Speaking after the case, Milne’s victim says he is still suffering from the effects of the attack.
He said: “I don’t really go to the town as much any more, since [the attack]. And it sounds like I will be left with the consequences far longer than he will.
“My eye is actually worse at the moment. Still black and blue and I’m having difficulty opening it. I’m not sure if the operation has been a success.
“You never know what someone will get for things like this but I’m glad he’s got something.”
Drugs and knife possession just months later
In the five months following the attack, Milne would find himself in trouble with the law three more times.
On June 25, while on St Peters Street in Peterhead, Mr Young said officers had reason to carry out a search. When they did, they saw a packet containing diamorphine fall out of his jeans.
And when he was being arrested for it, he kicked out his legs and struck a female constable, causing bruising to her leg.
On July 29, Milne went into Peterhead’s Zanres some days after purchasing food to complain about his order of allegedly cold chips and to remonstrate about a gull who had made a nest above the property and was performing divebombs.
He was told he should have complained at the time.
“The accused began shouting and swearing,” Mr Young said.
And on August 8, while driving in Fraserburgh, he was found to be in possession of a three-inch blade and concerned in the supply of both diamorphine and ketamine.
Officers would catalogue four wraps of ketamine valued at between £80 to £120, and three wraps of diamorphine valued at £90.
He was also charged with driving the vehicle – a red BMW – while unfit to do so through either drugs or alcohol.
Self-made man lost it all
On Monday, Milne’s defence solicitor, George Mathers, said his client wanted to apologise to all of his victims but had no memory of March 9 or June 25 at all.
Mr Mathers said: “He was, as is often the case with Mr Milne, either under the influence of drink or drugs at that time.”
He also told the court that the drugs found on him in Fraserburgh were not going to be sold “for financial gain”, but rather given to a family member.
He said the vehicle itself was one Milne had been interested in purchasing and the knife within it was not his.
Mr Mathers added the “only explanation” Milne could offer for attacking the three men was that his drink had been spiked at a nearby bar during lunch in an attempt by someone else to rob him of the £800 in cash he was carrying.
“It would appear Mr Milne experienced significant trauma through his childhood,” Mr Mathers continued.
“However, he met his wife-to-be and they were married for 25 years. And after 25 years of marriage, she left him. [It] had a devastating effect on him.
“Because of that devastation, he’s got into a lot of trouble since then.
“He set up his own company, he learned how to drive his own digger. He did very well for a period of time. He had, in fact, bought his own digger at a cost of over £100,000. He bought the house he lived in, in Bridge of Don.
“All of that is gone, of course. The marriage is over. He lost his job.”
‘It is my sincere hope you are able to draw a line’
Sentencing him to prison for 31 months for all of his crimes, Sheriff Craig Findlater said he now hoped Milne would now to build a better life for himself in future.
“You’ve clearly suffered throughout your childhood and into your youth,” he said.
“You are, however, someone who has overcome your very difficult background. You built yourself up such that you were mostly law-abiding and a productive member of society.
“You had good employment, as evidenced by the documentation provided today about your digger business. You also had, of course, your wife, children, and family home. That level of relationship with your wife fell apart for reasons unknown to this court and now you have fallen into criminality over the years since.
“It is my sincere hope you are able to draw a line under your criminality and turn your life around as you have done previously.
“You had, as I’ve said, a terrible childhood and youth, but built yourself up. You will have to do so again and I truly hope that you are able to do so.”
In addition to being locked up, Milne was also disqualified from driving for a period of 25 months.