mordant wit

A jealous youth tried to kill his father by stabbing him in the heart after losing out in a love triangle with a teenage girl.

Sean Graham, 17, and Danielle Johnstone, 17, had a child together, before she took up with the baby's grandfather, Derek Graham, who was twice her age.

What am I meant to do ... just sit back and watch?" Graham said to police after he had walked into his father's living room and stabbed him as he sat in a chair.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the blow had not landed where intended and Mr Graham, 35, had escaped with a minor wound to the shoulder.

His son, of Wilson Drive, Hawick, pleaded guilty to attempting to murder his father in the early hours of 2 January this year in Mr Graham's home in Crumhaughhill Road, Hawick.

The advocate-depute, Paul Kearney, said that Mr Graham had been in a relationship with Danielle Johnstone, also of Hawick. He added: "Ms Johnstone had previously been in a relationship with the accused and, indeed, there was a child of that relationship. It appears that Mr Graham being in a relationship with the accused's ex-girlfriend was the cause of some friction."