William Kerrigan

Introduction

William Kerrigan is a young Glasgow man who pleaded guilty at the High Court to a sustained knife attack on 25 January 2026 in which, while acting with others meantime unknown, he repeatedly struck Darren Anderson on the head and body with a knife or similar instrument, caused him to fall to the ground, kicked him on the body, seized and pulled him by the body and pursued him, all to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life. Lord Scott sentenced Kerrigan to four years and six months’ imprisonment for that attack, a term reduced from a six-year headline that would have applied after trial and set below what it would have been had he been over 25. His case is anchored to two co-accused from the same night: Andrew Rennie, jailed for eighteen months for attempting to strike an unknown male with a knife, and Lee Heron, who received fifteen months and a six-year disqualification for a dangerous driving episode the same day .

Background Information

The three sentences all arose from events of 25 January 2026. Kerrigan’s charge was the most serious: a group assault in which the victim was repeatedly struck with a blade or similar instrument, knocked down, kicked while prone, grabbed and chased — a course of conduct the indictment libelled as endangering Darren Anderson’s life and permanently disfiguring him. Rennie pleaded guilty to attempting to strike an unknown male on the body with a knife or similar instrument during the same events. Heron’s role that night was behind the wheel: he admitted dangerous driving, having repeatedly driven at excessive speed and in an erratic manner, repeatedly driven towards pedestrians on the roadway, driven while an unknown female held on to the car’s door handle, forced other cars to take evasive action, and driven with the passenger door open . Heron, 29 at sentencing and 28 at the time of the driving, had five previous road-traffic convictions, including careless driving in 2019 and a directly analogous 2017 conviction for two charges of dangerous driving that drew seven months’ detention and a five-year disqualification — making this a repeat dangerous-driving case, not a first lapse .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted a knife attack leaving a man permanently disfigured; four and a half years.

Sentencing Kerrigan, Lord Scott said that having regard to the whole circumstances only a custodial sentence was appropriate — necessary to punish him, to deter him and others, and in particular to protect the public from him. He imposed four years and six months’ imprisonment, explaining that after trial the sentence would have been six years, and that even that starting point was set lower than it would have been if Kerrigan were over 25; the sentence dates from 1 September 2026 . For Rennie, the court imposed eighteen months for the attempted knife strike on the unknown male. For Heron, the court imposed fifteen months on the dangerous driving charge — reduced from twenty months for the plea — and, given his analogous previous convictions and “complete disregard for road traffic law”, a disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving licence of six years before any extension, ultimately six years and seven and a half months in total; he also received credit of 87 days for 173 days spent on electronically monitored bail, which the Scottish Prison Service must treat as time in custody .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The published statement sets the night out as a single case of group violence with distinct roles: the knife attacker who left his victim permanently disfigured and in danger of his life, the co-accused who tried to strike another man with a blade, and the driver whose erratic, pedestrian-threatening getaway driving forced other cars off their path. The court’s treatment of Heron’s social work report was pointed: it described his account of involvement as “garbled and unconvincing… more designed to obscure the truth of what happened”, recorded that he had left the family home where three young children were present with his partner, and assessed him as presenting a very high level of risk and need in regard to general offending, with a report noting “a concerning pattern of high-risk behaviour” and the re-occurrence of dangerous driving despite the significant consequences of his previous behaviour . Kerrigan’s youth counted for him — the under-25 sentencing guideline expressly pulled his headline down — but the judge’s published reason for the custodial term, protection of the public from him specifically, was on the record .

Current Status

Kerrigan is serving four years and six months from 1 September 2026. Rennie is serving eighteen months, and Heron fifteen months with a disqualification running six years and seven and a half months alongside custody credit of 87 days. Heron had been on supervised bail since 30 April 2026 and had complied with its terms; the court noted separately his poor compliance with the unpaid-work aspect of his last community payback order . No appeal was reported in the published remarks .

Impact on Their Career/Life

For Kerrigan, a first published High Court conviction for a disfiguring knife assault carries a custodial term that will run past his mid-twenties and a judicial statement that he was sentenced specifically so the public would be protected from him — language that follows an offender into any future sentencing exercise. For Heron, the case converted a repeat dangerous-driving pattern into a second custodial sentence and a driving ban of more than six and a half years imposed for “complete disregard for road traffic law”, after a social work report that accused him of obscuring the truth and found very high general-offending risk . Rennie’s eighteen-month term for an attempted knife strike rounds out a case in which every participant in the night’s violence received custody .

Sources

• “HMA v William Kerrigan, Andrew Rennie and Lee Heron, remarks of Lord Scott” — Judiciary of Scotland, 23 October 2026: source