Man jailed for seven years for ‘outrageous’ meat cleaver attack on police

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A man who brutally attacked two police officers with a meat cleaver has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

David Dowson, 26, attacked Pc Glenn Coletta and Pc Josh McCorry in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire last June.

He was originally charged with two counts of attempted murder, but his plea was accepted to the lesser charge of assaulting Pc Glenn Coletta, then 23, resulting in severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of life.

Dowson was charged with the attempted murder of Pc Josh McCorry, who was 24 at the time of the attack.

Appearing at Glasgow’s High Court, the judge sentenced Dowson to an extended sentence of seven-and-a-half years in prison followed by two years under supervision upon release.

The attack took place outside Dowson’s home last year as the police officers were returning a young child to his home in the same block of flats where Dowson lived.

Dowson claimed he would take the child and threatened the officers, saying: “I’ll put holes in both of you.”

As Pc Coletta, who was 24 at the time, entered to the building’s close, Dowson pulled out the meat cleaver and swung it at the officer’s face. Pc Coletta blocked the blow with his hand, resulting in a serious injury that required surgery and has left scarring.

Dowson then attacked Pc McCorry, punching him and swinging the weapon towards his head, causing him to hit the ground where he continued to aim the cleaver at him, making contact at least once.

The officers managed to escape and reinforcements arrived to arrest Dowson.

Judge Lady Stacey said: “You have pled guilty to very serious charges and your behaviour that day can only be described as outrageous. The police were dealing with a young child being returned to his home and you decided to interfere with that. You proceeded to threaten these police officers and then attack them.

“That sort of behaviour just cannot be tolerated. What you did had consequences, these police officers suffered injuries. Nobody carrying out their duties should be subjected to the sort of behaviour that you carried out that day.”

She said he appeared to have had the meat cleaver ready in preparation as it was located “conveniently” near the front door, describing his behaviour as “outrageous”.

The defendant had a “shocking” record of previous convictions, including a High Court conviction for assault, the judge said, adding that she believes him to be a danger to the public.

Defence lawyer Tony Graham QC said Dowson has “a distrust of those around him in society” and had requested help from mental health services to address his issues while in custody.