Man launches Buckfast-fuelled rampage on panicking train passengers

A man has been convicted of attempted murder after he ‘violently’ and ‘indiscriminately’ attacked two train passengers with a fortified wine bottle.

Thomas Craig, 48, from East Renfrewshire, Scotland, was found guilty on November 28 after a four-day trial at Glasgow High Court.

The court heard that on February 16, 2024, Craig was drunk on a train from Glasgow Queen Street to Perth when he began speaking to other passengers sat across from him.

Within 10 minutes of the conversation beginning he hurled an insult at a victim, before suddenly launching his attack.

Craig jumped from his seat and hit the victim twice over the head with a glass Buckfast bottle.

The victim ran away through the train carriage but Craig pursued him and continued to relentlessly strike him with the bottle until it smashed, leaving the attacker holding the broken neck of the bottle.

The victim’s friend then tried to intervene but was attacked himself when Craig turned around and punched him seven times before he thrust the broken glass bottle into his chest twice.

Craig then returned to his seat, throwing the neck of the bottle towards where the victims had been sitting before pocketing one of their phones.

He walked down the train before taking off his blood-soaked jumper and replacing it with a clean hoodie from his belongings.

Police and paramedics treated the victims at Larbert train station before they were rushed to hospital. Craig was arrested on the train by officers.

The injuries to the second victim were so severe that he was placed into intensive care, having suffered a stab wound close to his heart, a collapsed lung and a severed artery that resulted in him losing around 15% of his blood.

Marc Francey, a detective inspector for the British Transport Police, said: ‘Craig acted in a truly despicable manner, violently and relentlessly attacking two men over a minor disagreement and causing countless passengers on the train to panic.

‘His indiscriminate and thuggish actions could have resulted in far more severe consequences, both for his victims and for himself.

‘It is thanks only to luck and to the lifesaving work of the paramedics that Craig hasn’t been found guilty of something far worse.

‘I hope this verdict brings a measure of closure to the victims after enduring such a brutal attack.

‘Violence on the railway is utterly unacceptable, and we will relentlessly pursue offenders like Craig to ensure they face justice.’

Craig will return to Glasgow High Court on January 12, 2026, to be sentenced. 

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