Derek Clark admits attempting to murder Mary Coulter
A man has admitted attempting to murder a grandmother who was savagely beaten in her North Lanarkshire home.
Derek Clark, 32, was accused, with two others, of attacking Mary Coulter at her home in Wishaw on 22 March.
Darryl Finnie, 27, and a 29-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted conspiring to inflict injury on Mrs Coulter's son, Ronnie, in connection with the raid on her home.
At the High Court in Glasgow, sentence on the three accused was deferred.
Clark and the 29-year-old were remanded in custody, while Finnie, from Carluke, South Lanarkshire, had his bail continued.
Mrs Coulter was left badly disfigured after Clark and two accomplices went in search of her son in the early hours of 22 March.
They burst their way into her home in Overtown, Wishaw, and went through rooms looking for Mr Coulter.
The pensioner was then subjected to a brutal assault, leading to her spending weeks in hospital.
The 76-year-old suffered serious head injuries, slashes to her face and two broken arms after being struck with a bat and a knife.
She required an emergency blood transfusion and facial reconstructive surgery.
Mrs Coulter was so traumatised by the attack that she gave up her home where she had lived for several years to move in with her daughter.
Speaking after the court hearing, Det Supt Clark Cuzen, who led the investigation into the attack on Mrs Coulter, said: "The level of violence that Derek Clark subjected this elderly lady to was breathtaking and it is difficult to understand the mindset of someone who is capable of carrying out such an act.
"I hope the fact that Derek Clark submitted a guilty plea provides a degree of comfort to Mary Coulter and her family."