A YOUNG man wept in court yesterday as he saw a video of himself

carrying out a knife attack.

Daniel Downie, 22, was shown the video minutes before he was to appear

in the dock of the High Court in Glasgow.

He immediately pleaded guilty to slashing his victim four times in the

face and was jailed for six years.

Downie is the first criminal caught by security vidoes since the

cameras were installed in high-rise flats in Greenock.

The man he attacked needed 24 stitches and will be permanently

disfigured, advocate depute Alan Turnbull said.

Downie, of Balfron Road, Greenock, was on probation for a previous

attack when he committed the offence.

He attacked his victim with a knife after a drunken melee outside

flats in Grieve Road, Greenock, last April.

The cameras recorded Downie chasing and slashing his victim and

photographic prints of the attack were pinned up in court.

Defence advocate Bill Dunlop said: ''Downie can remember nothing of

the assault.

''He is distressed and shocked, after seeing the video, that he could

be responsible for such a violent action.''