A VICIOUS thug who tried to maim a Dalmuir witness to prevent him giving evidence has been jailed.

Brian McCullough, 39, smashed a hammer over the knees of his victim, who was due to give evidence in court against him.

The High Court in Glasgow heard on Monday that McCullough was aided in the attack by 24-year-old Robert Young.

McCullough and co-accused Young, admitted assaulting the man on June 14 at Overtoun Court, by repeatedly punching, kicking and stamping on his head and body and repeatedly hitting him with a hammer to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

They banged and kicked on the door at around 7.50pm. The victim, thinking it was the police trying to force entry to his home, opened the door. As soon as he did so McCullough and Young launched a frenzied attack.

Sentencing them, judge Lord Turnbull said that McCullough was the prime mover in the brutal attack. Lord Turnbull told McCullough: “You repeatedly hit (the victim) on the knee with a hammer in a deliberate attempt to maim him. “Surprisingly, the injuries were not nearly as serious as one would imagine they would be.”

McCulloch was jailed for five years and three months. Young was jailed for three years.