Criminal with 189 previous convictions murdered stranger who refused him cigarette

A serial criminal who murdered a stranger when he was refused a cigarette has been jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 16 years in prison after his second prosecution for the attack.

Steven Greig, 47, pushed taxi driver Mark Ward down a grassy slope and then repeatedly kicked and stamped on his head on April 6, 2022, before abandoning him.

The assault resulted in catastrophic consequences for Mr Ward, who was left in need of round-the-clock care after sustaining serious head injuries which left him unable to properly speak or digest food.

In October 2022, he was transferred from hospital to the Centre for Brain Injury rehabilitation, where he was assessed as being “severely cognitively impaired”.

Mr Ward, then aged 55, died at Ninewells Hospital in April 2023 – exactly 364 days after the attack and three months after Greig had been sentenced on the initial charge.

Greig was originally jailed in January 2023 for five years and four months after admitting to assaulting Mr Ward, 55, to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment and the danger of his life in the attack at Coupar Angus Road, Dundee.

But following the victim’s death, the Crown raised a fresh prosecution against Greig, accusing him of murder.

Greig denied murdering his victim but was found guilty of the offence at a trial earlier this year after a jury rejected his claim that he should be convicted of the lesser offence of culpable homicide.

Greig had been freed under five separate bail orders at Dundee Sheriff Court when he carried out the fatal attack.

A judge told Greig at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You were convicted by the jury of murdering Mark Ward.

“The circumstances were you and Mr Ward had never met before. On April 6, 2022, you were under the influence of drugs.”

Lady Drummond said: “You came across Mr Ward who was a taxi driver. He was standing beside an electric charging point charging his taxi. You asked him for a cigarette and he refused.”

Greig then pushed his victim down an embankment, and he struck his head before kicking and stampin on Mr Ward.

Lady Drummond said: “You immediately then walked away without stopping or showing any concern for him.”

The judge said that following the traumatic head injury sustained by the victim, he was fully dependent on 24-hour care and had to be fed through a tube.

She said the injuries he sustained, and his subsequent death had “a devastating impact” on relatives of the deceased, who was a much-loved man.

Greig has amassed 189 previous convictions from the age of 16, including convictions for assault.

Lady Drummond told Greig, who followed the sentencing proceedings via a TV link to prison, that a background report prepared on him assessed him as posing a very high risk of reoffending.

She added: “The author notes you have shown no meaningful remorse for your actions.”

She told the murderer that he would have to serve 16 years in prison before he was eligible to seek release, but any decision to allow his future release would lie with the parole authorities.

Moira Orr, who leads on homicide and major crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “This is a rare situation where someone has already previously been convicted of a crime and is prosecuted again under the same circumstances but for a different crime.

“As prosecutors, we have worked hard to deliver justice for Mark Ward and his family in what have been particularly traumatic circumstances for them since the assault in April 2022. Our thoughts remain with them at this time.

“Steven Greig’s appalling actions robbed a much-loved family man of his life following a shocking attack. He will now serve a lengthy prison sentence for his crime.”