Man who stabbed neighbour in parking space row jailed for seven-and-a-half years

A man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison after inflicting “life-changing injuries” on his neighbour following a row over a parking space.

Stephen McAulay, 35, stabbed James Duncan “multiple times” to the head and body outside his home in the Carntyne area of Glasgow on May 13, 2024.

It is understood the pair had initially argued about a parking space on their road, and McAulay had later gone to Mr Duncan’s home armed with a knife.

The attack left Mr Duncan needing emergency surgery to a chest wound, while injuries to his head resulted in “significant” loss of vision.

McAulay pleaded guilty to attempted murder at the High Court in Glasgow on October 15.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Handing down his sentence, judge Lord Young told him: “On the day of the attack there had been a confrontation between you (and Mr Duncan) in which you received a modest injury to your face.

“Whatever the rights and wrongs of that dispute, you would not let the matter rest.

“Later that same evening you provoked further confrontation with the victim in his garden and on the street.”

The judge dismissed McAulay’s claim he had taken the knife with him in “self-defence”.

He told him: “You went looking for your victim to continue the argument, and you took a knife with you that you were prepared to use.”

Lord Young said he had read a victim impact statement from Mr Duncan on how the attack has affected him.

“He will struggle to return to work,” he told McAulay.

“These were truly life-changing injuries that you have inflicted.”

The judge acknowledged McAulay had no previous convictions for violence, and that the attack appeared to have been “caused more by intoxication and loss of face than anything else”.

However he told the 35-year-old using a knife he had taken to the scene was a “very serious crime”, and a custodial sentence was necessary.

McAulay, who appeared in court dressed in a black hoodie and blue jeans, showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

Earlier, his lawyer Ross Yuill described McAulay’s decision to “arm himself with a knife” and confront his neighbour as “inexplicable”.

He told the court: “I absolutely accept on his behalf that elevation of behaviour from what appeared to be a relatively minor neighbour-type dispute to end up in a situation he has ended up in was inexplicable.”

He added McAulay was “sorry” for the incident and he “wishes again to offer his apologies to the complainant”.