http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-92958208.html
Daily Mail (London)
October 12, 2002
A CELTIC supporter who carried out a brutal sectarian attack on a Rangers fan was yesterday jailed for five years.
Jeffrey Robertson, 38, hit Martin McNair in the neck with a pint glass, severing his jugular vein.
Mr McNair bled so severely he lost about half the blood in his body.
Solicitor Advocate Murray Macara told the High Court in Glasgow that Robertson claimed he was regularly subjected to sectarian abuse after moving from Dundonald, Ayrshire, to Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, last year.
He said he was laughed at because he supported Celtic and his Celtic shirts were defaced and spat on as they hung on the washing line.
On the night of the attack he had gone to a dance at the local Lodge Ladywell Masonic club wearing a Celtic top.
He claimed he was subjected to a number of sectarian remarks and taunts before he struck Mr McNair with the glass.
Sentencing, judge Lord McEwan told him: 'You have pleaded guilty to a very serious matter which, regrettably, once again seems to have been set against a background of religious hostility between two football teams, which is deeply distressing.' Robertson had admitted assaulting Mr McNair to his severe injury and the danger of his life.
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