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Sword attacker freed on bail five times before drunken Dundee assault

Derek Alland also used a broken bottle to assault his victim.

police incident
The attack happened in a flat in Hilltown Court. Image: DC Thomson/ James Simpson

A violent intruder who attacked a man in his Dundee home with a samurai sword was free under five separate bail orders at the time of the offence.

Derek Alland struck his victim over the head with a glass bottle and knocked him to the ground, before repeatedly punching and stamping on him.

Alland, 29, then picked up the ornamental sword and hit Lee Gray on the head with the weapon.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard Mr Gray was taken to hospital after the attack on him and had stitches inserted into his injuries.

Alland admitted assaulting him to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of life on February 15 this year at a flat at Hilltown Court.

He also pled guilty to assaulting detective constable Darren Suttie by spitting at him at the city’s police station, in West Bell Street, on the same date.

Trail of blood

Alland has a criminal record, including offences of violence and disorder, and had been granted bail at Dundee Sheriff Court on January 11, February 28 and April 28 in 2022 and on February 7 and 14 this year.

The court heard he had turned up at the flat wearing one shoe and barged his way in before hitting Mr Gray with a bottle and the sword.

When police arrived the victim told them his injuries were caused by the weapons.

Advocate depute Brian Gill KC said officers found what appeared to be a trail of blood leading to other flats.

They traced Alland, who was detained and handcuffed but continued to be hostile and abusive.

Alland  then spat on the detective without warning in the cell area at the police station.

‘Very, very drunk’

Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson said prior to the offences Alland and his partner had a fall-out.

He told the court: “He, unfortunately, consumed quite a significant amount of alcohol.”

He said Alland described himself as “very, very drunk”.

A judge told Alland, who followed proceedings via a video link to prison: “You have pled guilty to two serious charges of assault with bail aggravations.”

Lady Poole called for a background report and risk assessment to be prepared on Alland ahead of sentencing next month.

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