Drunken train passenger severed man’s artery in ‘despicable’ glass bottle attack
Thomas Craig launched an attack on fellow passengers on a Scottish train
A drunken man launched a wild attack while on a train, thrusting a broken bottle into his victim’s chest, which severed an artery and put him into intensive care.
Thomas Craig, 48, was intoxicated on a train from Glasgow Queen Street to Perth on 16 February 2024 when he began speaking to other passengers sitting across the aisle from him.
Within 10 minutes of the conversation beginning, he began insulting the victim and then launched an attack, jumping from his seat and hitting him twice over the head with a glass Buckfast bottle.
The victim’s friend tried to intervene but was attacked himself when Craig turned and punched him seven times, before he twice thrusted the broken neck of the glass bottle into his chest.
Craig then returned to his seat, throwing the neck of the bottle towards where the victims had been sitting. He then grabbed one of the victims’ phones and pocketed it.
He walked down the train before taking off his blood-soaked jumper, replacing it with a clean hoodie from his belongings.
Police and paramedics attended when the train arrived at Larbert railway station. Both victims were treated for their injuries before being urgently taken to hospital, and Craig was arrested on the train by officers.
The injuries to the second victim were so severe that he was placed into intensive care, having suffered a stab wound close to his heart, a collapsed lung, and a severed artery that resulted in him losing around 15 per cent of his blood.
Craig of Walton Street in East Renfrewshire was found guilty of attempted murder and serious assault on 28 November following a four-day trial at Glasgow High Court.
He will return to the same court on 12 January 2026 to be sentenced.
British Transport Police detective inspector Marc Francey said: “Craig acted in a truly despicable manner, violently and relentlessly attacking two men over a minor disagreement and causing countless passengers on the train to panic.
“His indiscriminate and thuggish actions could have resulted in far more severe consequences, both for his victims and for himself. It is thanks only to luck and to the lifesaving work of the paramedics that Craig hasn’t been found guilty of something far worse.
“I hope this verdict brings a measure of closure to the victims after enduring such a brutal attack. Violence on the railway is utterly unacceptable, and we will relentlessly pursue offenders like Craig to ensure they face justice.”