A GRANDMOTHER was left with horrific injuries after a gang raided her home in search of her son.
Mary Coulter sustained slash wounds to her face and broken arms after being attacked at her property in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, in March this year.
The 76-year-old's brutal assault resulted in her daughter making a tearful public appeal to catch the culprits.
It eventually led to Derek Clark yesterday admitting to the attempted murder of Mrs Coulter when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow.
The 32-year-old was remanded in custody and faces a lengthy jail-term when he is sentenced next month.
Mrs Coulter was left badly disfigured after Clark and two accomplices went in search of the pensioner's son Ronnie.
They burst into her home in Overtown, Wishaw, on March 22 and ransacked rooms looking for Mr Coulter.
His defenceless mother was instead subjected to a brutal assault leading to her spending weeks in hospital. She required an emergency blood transfusion and facial reconstructive surgery.
It was reported she is so traumatised by her ordeal she is no longer able to live alone.
She gave up her home where she had lived for several years to move in with her daughter Helen, who made an emotional appeal at the time as police searched for those involved.
She said at a press conference: "We can't understand why anyone would carry out this cowardly attack."
Clark's QC Ian Duguid yesterday entered a guilty plea on his behalf.
Darryl Finnie, 27, and a 29 year-old man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had also faced the attempted murder allegation.
The pair instead pled guilty to conspiring to inflict injury on Ronnie Coulter in connection with the raid on Mrs Coulter's home.
Clark and the 29-year-old were remanded in custody while Finnie, of Carluke, South Lanarkshire, had his bail continued.
Judge Lord Turnbull deferred the case until next month for reports.
Members of Mrs Coulter's family who were at court yesterday said no comment would be made until after sentencing.
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