A mum had her fingers chopped off and her boyfriend needed his leg amputated after a machete gang launched a brutal attack "over an unpaid debt".
Criminals from Liverpool are understood to have travelled to Scotland to carry out the horrific assault on a couple, over a "six figure" sum the female victim says she was unaware her partner owed. The 28-year-old mum-of-two, from, Lanarkshire, spoke to the Daily Record and described how her life will never be the same.
Her partner's injuries left doctors no choice but to amputate his right leg, while the mum lost two fingers on her left hand when she was slashed as she tried to pick up a phone and call police.
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She said: “It’s a horrendous thing that happened to me and it’s difficult to talk about. I’m just trying to move forward with my life and recover from all of this. It has been a traumatic experience.
“I’m trying to focus on me and the kids at the moment. My partner and I have now gone our separate ways. I’m not in touch with him anymore. I can’t tell you why we were attacked. I don’t know the ins and outs of the story as he hasn’t been honest with me about what happened.”
The attack took place on May 19 at about 2.30am. The couple were taken by ambulance to Monklands Hospital, in Airdrie, for treatment and the amputations on both victims were carried out later by surgeons.
Police had made an appeal for witnesses but details of the incident only emerged last week after photographs of the injured couple were posted on social media. One image shows the male victim in a hospital bed with his right leg amputated above the knee and his left leg bandaged and in a brace. His arms are also heavily bandaged from above the elbow downwards covering both hands.
It’s understood that his fingers were also badly damaged in the attack. An image of the woman shows her left arm bandaged from below the elbow covering the hand where the fingers were amputated.
She had witnessed the attack and was swiped with a blade when she went to phone for help – causing her to lose two middle fingers on her left hand.
A family member of the woman said: “Even the police have said it was the worst they had ever seen. She was lucky she did not lose more than her two fingers.”
Sources told the Daily Record that the male victim, 28, was targeted over a massive debt owed to criminals and had just recently been released from prison. His partner has since moved out of her home and hopes to now find somewhere else for her and her two young children to live.
Following the double attack last month, Police Scotland said there had been a disturbance in the house and that the injuries suffered by the couple were “serious”. But no further details were given.
Police said their inquiries into the incident are continuing. The full details of all the weapons used in the violent attack are not known. Detectives are understood to be attempting to track the movements of the individuals they suspect could be responsible.
Neighbours at the scene told the Sunday Mail they were shocked by the severity of the attack on the young couple. They said the female victim had been living in an upstairs flat for several years.
One male neighbour said: “It sounds as though the man is lucky to be alive. It seems he was in a life-threatening condition at one stage. We have had the police to our doors asking if we saw or heard anything. It happened when most people were in their beds.”
In an appeal last month, police described the couple’s injuries as “serious”. Asked last night about the case, a spokesman said: “Inquiries are still ongoing.”
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