Grangemouth man jailed for stabbing wants to make anti-knife rap music

Mel Cochrane, 25, repeatedly struck Dean Holmes with a blade during an attack at a house in Avonbank Avenue, Grangemouth, on January 9 this year.

Today (Thursday), the High Court in Edinburgh heard that Cochrane, also of Grangemouth, now wants to make music that will inspire people. His advocate Lorenzo Alonzi told judge Douglas Brown on Thursday that he’s keen to pursue creative pursuits.

Mr Alonzi added: “His turning his focus to music. There’s an enthusiasm, a drive for that. It’s rap music. It’s the sort of music that people use to get messages across.

“The message that he wants to get across is that the use of knives is wrong.”

Mr Alonzi was speaking during a hearing at the High Court to determine what sentence Cochrane should receive for his crime.

He was convicted at an earlier hearing at the High Court on a charge of assaulting Mr Holmes, 22, to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement by striking him repeatedly on the body with a knife.

The assault also left Mr Holmes’s life “in danger”. Sentence had been previously deferred for the court to obtain reports.

Today, Mr Alonzi told the court that Cochrane now appreciated that carrying knives was wrong. He added: “It was a force of habit for him. People in his company were carrying knives.”

Mr Alonzi told the court that his client had a “traumatic” upbringing and asked judge Brown to take his youth into account when passing sentence.

However, judge Brown jailed Cochrane for four and a half years. He added: “The only appropriate sentence in this case is a sentence of imprisonment.”