An armed gang who hunted a man down in the street at Hogmanay in a brutal attempted murder were jailed for 47 years on Monday.
Rhys Reynolds, 26, was chased by a pack of pursuers and put to the ground before being hit with knives, a metal pole and a rock or paving slab.
He suffered 36 injuries, including multiple wounds, facial fractures and bleeding to the brain, during the murder bid at Delta Drive, Musselburgh , East Lothian, on December 31 last year.
Aaron Thomson, 20, and Dillin Armstrong, 24, were each jailed for 10 years for the attempted murder, when they appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Dean Riding or Renton, 22, and Kane Reilly, 18, were each sentenced to eight years and a 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, got seven years' detention.
Thomson, Armstrong, Reilly and the 16-year-old were all found guilty of attempted murder after a trial last month.
Riding had earlier pled guilty to the murder bid and was the only one convicted of striking the victim with the rock or paving slab.
Jayson Dodds, 19, was acquitted of attempted murder but found guilty of assault to injury and was jailed for four years.
Last night Rhys said: “It’s definitely good they are off the streets. The sentence they got shows how vicious they were.
“If people could see the CCTV of the attack shown in court they would realise just how bad it was.
“I’m trying to get on with things but I think it will stick with me for a while.”
