Blade thug stabbed pensioner with machete in row over £130k family cash

A pensioner was left scarred for life by his niece’s partner in a bitter row with his sister over £130,000 of cash kept in their father’s safe.

Derek Robertson was ambushed in his home by Barry Marshall and his accomplice Marion Hawkins, who demanded he hand over the money.

The machete attack happened on the same day his sister Greta Robertson, 64, reported him to police for refusing to hand over the safe which was being kept at his property in Maybole, Ayrshire.

She was forced to deny having any knowledge of the attack on her brother.

Marshall – later identified by police as the partner of Greta’s daughter Jade – and his friend Hawkins repeatedly struck Derek, 69, with the weapon as he tried to defend himself during the attack.

The pair left without the money but Derek suffered stab wounds.

Derek and his siblings had agreed he would look after the cash while their dad was in hospital.

However, Greta – who had power of attorney over their dad Hamilton’s personal affairs – then demanded it be returned.

Earlier this month, Marshall and Hawkins, both 41, appeared at High Court in Glasgow and were convicted of attempted murder.

Greta, who was not on trial, denied “encouraging” anyone to target her brother and insisted she was “horrified” when she learned Derek had been stabbed.

She told the court that her brother had felt the safe had to be removed while their dad’s house was empty. However, there was then a “disagreement” when their dad later got out of hospital.

Greta said she asked “several times” for the cash box to be returned and stated her dad
eventually “asked her to go to the police.”

The view of Greta and her daughter Jade was that Hamilton’s safe was “rightfully his”.

Jurors heard how they had been a “close family” but that the dispute over the safekeeping of the cash had shattered relations.

The court heard how Hamilton – known as Milton – had ended up in hospital in 2019. On the day of the attack, Derek had been home ill and was on the phone to his other sister when his door bell was repeatedly rung.

She had urged Derek not to answer but he eventually did.

As he opened the door, he was “knocked back” by a gloved woman before “a guy jumped in with a big machete”.

The court heard the armed thug started “chopping” at Derek across his body with the machete.

Derek said: “If I had not raised my arm, I do not think I would still be here.”

He said there were yells of “where is the safe, where is the money?” during the attack.

Derek – wearing just a dressing gown and boxer shorts – tried unsuccessfully to escape into the kitchen and shut the door. He said: “He still kept trying to get me. Whenever he got closer, he had another shot.

“For some reason, they decided they were going and said, ‘We will be back. It is not finished’.”

Greta said she learned that night what had happened to Derek.

She told the trial: “I was horrified. I could not understand.”

Asked if she had any involvement or put anyone up to it, Greta stated: “No, never.

“I only wanted my dad to get his money back. We had been a close family.”

Marshall, of Pollok, Glasgow, blamed Hawkins for the attack and claimed he had sat in his car while she went into the house.

Hawkins, of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, denied being there but they were both found guilty of attempted murder and the robbery of Derek’s mobile phone.

The paid were remanded in custody and Lady Poole deferred sentencing until next month.

The judge told the pair: “This attack was carried out on a man in his 60s in his own home.

“This was a despicable thing to do. The victim impact statement I have read speaks of the physical and emotional impact on him.”

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