THE HIGH Court in Edinburgh was told last September how Tracey was attacked and stabbed by a man who called him a “beast” after hearing he had slept with the 12-year-old.

David Purves, who was high on drink and drugs, ran into Tracey in a shop and two hours later turned up at a flat with two other men and knifed him as he sat in a chair.

Tracey was so badly wounded doctors said he would have died without emergency surgery.

The court heard Tracey was visiting a friend in Glenrothes and went to a nearby shop at about 4.30pm, where he bumped into 25-year-old Purves.

Advocate depute Iain McSporran said, “Purves made some derogatory comment about the fact that Tracey was alleged to have had sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl, calling him a beast.”

Purves, Maxwell Arbuckle and John Lilly arrived at the flat at about 6.30 pm and the attack took place.

Tracey was left with two stab wounds to the chest and one to the abdomen.

Purves admitted repeatedly punching him on the head and body and repeatedly striking him on the body with a knife, all to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life.

The 12-year-old girl’s family played no part in the attack.

The trio, all unemployed and described as prisoners at Perth, went on to carry out an unprovoked attack on 30-year-old Christopher Roza at a flat in Alexander Road in Glenrothes.

Purves admitted smashing a glass ornament over Mr Roza’s head, and then all three repeatedly punched and kicked him on the head and body, leaving him severely injured.

Mr Roza managed to escape through a bedroom window.

Arbuckle disliked Mr Roza, after he found him injecting heroin in the close of his block of flats, it was claimed.

Purves was jailed for six years and told he would be kept under supervision for a further three years once he is released.

Arbuckle (24) and Lilly (26) pleaded guilty to taking part in the assault on Mr Roza and were sentenced to two years and three months and two years and two months respectively. Both will be supervised for a year after their release.

Purves had been drinking vodka, cider and Buckfast and had taken valium before the attacks, on March 8 last year.

Judge Lord Mackay of Drumadoon said, “I wish to make it clear that taking large quantities of drink or drugs, or both together, provides absolutely no defence or excuse whatsoever for violent conduct.”