Knife attacker Whyte gets a further 11 months in prison for contempt of court

A knife attacker who was jailed for four years after bursting in on a sleeping man and assaulting him was sentenced to a further 11 months imprisonment today for contempt of court.

Francis Whyte, 42, struck his victim with the weapon during the attack at an address in Nederdale, Lerwick, on 22nd June last year.

Whyte was originally facing a charge of attempting to murder the victim, but a jury earlier convicted him of a lesser offence of assault to injury.

He was jailed for four years for the offence by Lord Burns at the High Court in Edinburgh last week after the judge told him he had carried out a premeditated attack and had been assessed as a high risk of re-offending. The judge also ordered that he should be kept under supervision for a further three years.

But Whyte’s behaviour at a previous trial forced the abandonment of proceedings and he was brought back to the same court for further punishment.

The judge at the original trial, Lord Bannatyne, told him: “You were warned repeatedly. This was a serious contempt of court.

“The result of your behaviour was the abandonment of the trial and considerable waste of court time and resulted in witnesses having to give evidence for a second time.”

Lord Bannatyne said he would have jailed Whyte for a year, but reduced the sentence after recognising that he admitted he was in contempt of court straight away.