THE son of a gangster shot dead on his own doorstep, stabbed a schoolboy in a totally unprovoked attack - leaving his life in tatters.

The traumatised victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would have died had he not received prompt medical treatment.

Since the assault the schoolboy suffers severe panic attacks and will not go out alone.

Frank McPhee jnr, 19, of Kirkton Avenue, Knightswood, admitted assaulting the boy to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and the danger of his life on September 10 last year.

His dad, Frank McPhee snr, 51, was shot in the head by a sniper with a high powered rifle at his house in Guthrie Street, Maryhill, in May, 2002.

Hardman McPhee, who was a henchman of major crime figures north and south of the border, had twice walked free from murder charges.

The last occasion was in 1998 at the High Court in Glasgow where on Friday his son sat in the dock to admit attacking the schoolboy from Milngavie.

Nial McCluskey, prosecuting, told how the lad was in Glasgow"s Hope Street, in the city centre, with pals when McPhee, flanked by two of his friends, approached and challenged him to a fight.

When the youngster told him: `I don't want to fight`, McPhee pulled a large knife from his sleeve and plunged it into his chest.

At first the boy thought he had been punched, but as he ran away he saw he was bleeding and collapsed.

As paramedics attended him McPhee got on a bus. An unknown male on the top deck asked if he had heard about the stabbing, and McPhee boasted: `Aye, it was me that done it`, and indicated with his hands that it had been a large knife.

The youngster was rushed to hospital and because blood filling the sac round his heart was threatening to stop it beating, doctors performed an emergency operation.

Later the victim told police: `I have no idea why this happened to me. I have never seen this guy before.` Mr McCluskey revealed that the impact of the incident had left the youngster terrified to even walk in his home area without his mum and dad.

He said: `He has not yet fully recovered and only recently went back to school on a part time basis for mornings only.` Since the incident the boy has never been back in the city centre, has had to give up football and sport, suffers from panic attacks and has lost weight because he cannot eat or sleep.

After hearing of the lad's ordeal, the judge, Lord Mackay, called for reports on McPhee and locked him up pending sentence in May.