Guilty of beating up woman in her home

Christopher Cairns and an accomplice left Theresa Campbell with two black eyes and “bruises all over her body”, said prosecutor Imran Bashir.

Cairns (20), a prisoner, denied attacking Ms Campbell (46) at her house in Mulberry Road, Viewpark, on March 18 this year.

However, a jury found him guilty of punching and kicking her, dragging her down stairs and robbing her of house keys and a phone battery.

An allegation that he battered Ms Campbell with a table leg was deleted and Cairns was also cleared of stealing cash from the same house after a break-in 15 months earlier.

The verdict came after a three-day trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court. Cairns was remanded in custody and will be sentenced by Sheriff Daniel Kelly on August 11.

The assault and robbery charge against a boy of 16 was dropped by the prosecution.

Ms Campbell said she had known Cairns all his life and was “100 per cent certain” he was one of two people who attacked her. She told the court she had invited the pair into her home when they asked her for a cigarette, but violence flared, a coffee table was smashed and a table leg was used to beat her.

Neighbours shocked by the attack set up an online appeal and money raised was used to send Ms Campbell on holiday to see her daughter in Australia.

Ms Campbell rejected a defence claim that she had made up the assault allegation in order to get money.

Jim O’Dowd, representing Cairns, said neither fingerprints nor DNA belonging to his client had been found on the table leg and claimed Ms Campbell had got her injuries in an unrelated fight.

Cairns did not give evidence, but the 16-year-old boy went into the witness box and admitted being in Ms Campbell’s house on the night of the attack.

Mr Bashir asked how it was that his blood had been found on the mantelpiece. He replied: “Theresa got cheeky about the break-in at her house. She and Chrissie started pushing each other. I tried to split them up and Theresa pushed me against the mantelpiece, and that’s how I cut my finger.”

Mr Bashir asked him to look at pictures of Ms Campbell’s injuries. The boy did and said: “Look at her face. Who would do that? It’s terrible.”

The boy claimed Ms Campbell was fine when he and Cairns left her house, but Mr Bashir accused him of lying to protect Cairns.