Attempted murder trial to start soon

Ryan Craig, from Ashmount Gardens, Lisburn, will stand trial at Craigavon Court House on June 15 accused of attempting to murder Scott Vineer in the city three years ago.

Mr Vineer, went missing after he left the South Eastern Regional College was discovered badly beaten and abandoned beside an empty showroom in Lisburn in September 2012 some days later.

His disappearance sparked off a manhunt throughout the city.

Scott was only 17 at the time and when he was found, it was discovered that he had been badly beaten about the head and left unconscious behind a showroom of an old furniture store at the Laganbank Road.

Little is known as to what happened after he left college until the time he was found.

He was found a day after he went missing by a police dog handler lying unconscious at the rear of a disused furniture showroom on Laganbank Road late on Friday September 7, 2012.

Mr. Vineer, described as a ‘gentle giant’ was so viciously attacked that he was left for dead and remained for many months critically ill in hospital.

As a student at the South Eastern Regional College in Lisburn Mr Vineer attended a job club, run by the learning disability charity, Mencap.

His mother raised the alarm at 10pm on September 6 after he failed to return home from college.

He remained in hospital for six months three of which he remained in a coma and then confined to a wheelchair. He was greeted by family and friends when he returned home in March 2013.