A man previously jailed for his role in a drugs factory has admitted a stabbing in a Rangers pub beer garden. George Stewart, 38, struck Stephen Brown on the arm at The Louden Tavern in Glasgow's Duke Street on July 5, 2025.
Mr Brown became involved after Stewart was said to have been targeted by another man. Stewart, of the city's Dennistoun, later handed himself into police. Mr Brown later attended hospital where he was given stitches to the wound to his arm.
Previous drugs conviction
Stewart was sentenced to five years behind bars in 2020 for churning deadly street Valium pills from a flat in Dalry, North Ayrshire. Stewart and others pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to being involved in the supplying of Etizolam between February 1 and March 26, 2020.
The court heard that 253,399 tablets were seized as well as powder capable of making a further 178,769 pills. The maximum street value was £216,084. Police experts said that the pill machine in Dalry, Ayrshire, was capable of making approximately 130,000 tablets a day with a maximum street value each day of £65,000.
Beer garden incident
Stewart pleaded guilty today to his latest matter of assaulting Mr Brown to his injury. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how officers initially came across an injured Mr Brown on the street. Mr Brown told them that he had been "stabbed" and initially refused medical treatment.
He was visited the next day at his home where Mr Brown stated that the incident took place in the pub's beer garden. Police attended the pub and viewed CCTV of the incident. Prosecutor Abbas Ali said: "The footage showed Stewart being attacked by another man."
"Mr Brown stepped in and Stewart struck him with an implement on the arm. He then made an attempt to punch Mr Brown on the head."
Defence and sentencing
Paul Kavanagh, defending, told the court: "The offence was not of his making. He was in a bar and the beer garden with his fiance and he was attacked. He instinctively tried to retaliate and Mr Brown stepped in and he received the injury. Mr Brown had thought it was Mr Stewart who had carried out this attack."
Sentence was deferred on Stewart's latest matter pending background reports until next month.
