Sentence delay for man who stabbed ex-partner 30 times as children watched

High Court: Steven McIlroy was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh.© Deadline

Sentence has been delayed for a man who stabbed his former partner 30 times as her children watched.

Gareth Kerr attacked Gail McCann outside her Aberdeen and stabbed her repeatedly with a large bread knife.

The mother-of-two pretended to be dead in a bid to stop the frenzied attack, convincing her sons and neighbours that she had been murdered.

Kerr, 45, was originally charged with attempted murder but admitted a lesser charge of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

He appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday to be sentenced, but Lord Bannatyne said he needed more information about Kerr and the circumstances of the attack.

Sentence was deferred until next Wednesday.

Kerr, a prisoner of Aberdeen, had been in an abusive relationship with Ms McCann for 19 years, but that relationship had ended a week before the attack.

On March 22, 2009 Ms McCann let Kerr into her home so he could collect some clothes, but she was forced to flee when she, and her eldest son Kevin, 20, heard him removing a bread knife from the kitchen.

Kevin tried to wrestle the knife from Kerr's grip while his mother ran from the house, but his arm was cut in the struggle.

Ms McCann could hear her son shouting "stop it dad" as she was repeatedly stabbed. She pleaded with Kerr to stop but he ignored her.

She lay still and her ex-partner grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her hair up, staring into her face and then stabbing her in the side of the head.

Lord Bannatyne previously heard that Kerr suffered from an emotionally unstable personality disorder and was liable to uncontrolled outbursts of anger.

The attack left Ms McCann scarred for life and suffering flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks. Despite surgery she was left unable to straighten her fingers, write properly or use certain door handles.

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