Violent bottle attack by drunk train passenger captured on CCTV

British Transport Police has released CCTV footage of a violent bottle attack on a ScotRail train, after the attacker was convicted of attempted murder.

Thomas Craig, 48, hit a passenger twice over the head before stabbing another with the smashed neck of the bottle during the incident in February last year.

Craig, from East Renfrewshire, was convicted of the drunken attack on the Glasgow to Perth train after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow on 28 November.

British Transport Police (BTP) said he had acted in a "despicable manner" by relentlessly attacking the two men over a minor disagreement.

The court heard that Craig had been intoxicated when he started speaking to fellow passengers.

Within 10 minutes he hurled an insult before suddenly jumping from his seat and hitting the first victim twice over the head with the bottle.

The man ran away through the train carriage, but Craig pursued him and continued to strike him with the bottle until it smashed, leaving Craig holding the broken neck.

The victim's friend tried to intervene but was also attacked by Craig who punched him seven times before thrusting the broken neck of the bottle into his chest.

He then grabbed one of the victims' phones and put it in his pocket.

The court heard how Craig had walked down the train before he took off his blood-soaked jumper and replaced it with a clean hoodie from his belongings.

The second victim suffered a stab wound near his heart.

He also had a collapsed lung and a severed artery that resulted in him losing about 15% of his blood.

Police and paramedics met the train at Larbert railway station where the victims were taken to hospital and Craig was arrested.

BTP Det Insp 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."

Craig is due to be sentenced on 12 January.