Sentences cut for diabetic's muggers

Two muggers who laughed in their diabetic victim's face as he pleaded for the return of his insulin have had their sentences cut on appeal.

The Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh rejected submissions by lawyers for Raza Malik and Mohammed Mohammed that as 16-year-old first offenders from good homes they should be spared any term of detention.

However, the appeal judges, Lords Hardie and Mackay, decided that the sentences given to the pair by a sheriff, 24 months, were excessive and should be reduced to 16 months.

Malik, of Darnley, Glasgow, and Mohammed, of Camden, London, attacked a 28-year-old man and robbed him of a bag at Festival Park, Brand Street, Glasgow, on 16 February last year. The victim was punched and kicked.

The bag contained his insulin and, as he lay on the ground, the man asked for it back but Malik and Mohammed simply laughed and fled. Police caught them a short time later and the bag was recovered, although 45 was missing.