COPS have blasted top brass after an officer was stabbed by a crazed knife fiend while armed colleagues were held back in their car.

The unarmed victim was urged to sue chiefs following Gabrielle Friel’s vicious assault after the yob had threatened to mount an attack in a college cafeteria.

3 Gabrielle Friel launched the vicious attack Credit: Michael Schofield - The Sun Glasgow

And the case sparked further outrage as Friel, 19, dodged jail despite admitting he put the policeman’s life at risk in Edinburgh.

The city’s sheriff court heard the injured PC — who can’t be named for legal reasons — is still on “extended sick leave” eight months after he was stabbed in the back.

And a police source last night said the victim and colleagues were raging over the incident.

They added: “It’s shocking that armed cops get held back from going into situations like these.

“Armed officers could have very quickly dealt with that situation without the need for an officer to be injured.

3 The incident happened at Edinburghs Telford College

“The officer has a case to sue Police Scotland and I am sure he will have the support of his colleagues if he does.

“The guy could have been killed. It’s not acceptable for officers to be placed in situations where they are told to confront armed people and armed officers can’t.

“The officer and his colleagues are furious with what happened and hope that no other officers are put in this position.”

The PC was sent into Edinburgh College in Granton after Friel warned pals in a text to skip college as “there will be an attack”.

And he was knifed while armed officers were parked outside.

Fears over force gun unit policy By CHRIS MUSSON Scottish Political Editor

FRONTLINE cops had complained of a reluctance to use armed police before last November’s officer stabbing.

It followed a decision by top brass to only deploy gun crews to incidents where there was a “threat to life”.

That move — scrapped in April — followed a backlash over another controversial policy change in 2013.

It saw Armed Response Vehicles — ARVs — sent on 30,000 routine calls despite the public not being informed of the new practice. A watchdog slammed the force for the communication failure and rules were tightened.

But in March last year, a sergeant told of unarmed cops being sent to a sighting of a gun gang while firearms officers were held back nearby. It is likely the Edinburgh College incident was deemed a threat to life, but again gun cops were not given the green light.

We told in April how the force announced ARVs can again be sent to any incident if they are the nearest resource.

And 500 Tasers — previously only used by armed officers — are being rolled out to bobbies.

In June one of the weapons was used to arrest a man in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire.

The source added: “This poor unarmed cop was told to go in and see what was going on and got stabbed.

“He tried to stab him several times. The body armour did its job but unfortunately one got him in the armpit — which isn’t covered by the vest.

“He was fortunate that the guy didn’t go for his head or legs.”

Prosecutor Aidan Higgins told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that cops swooped when Friel told a friend of his plans after texting him not to come to classes that day as “there will be an attack”.

Mr Higgins said: “The pair met at college and the accused told his friend he had a plan to commit an attack in the college cafeteria.

“He opened his rucksack and showed his friend a large, black-handled kitchen knife.

“His friend alerted others and the police were called.”

Mr Higgins said three cops found Friel in a bathroom — and the nut grabbed the knife out of his bag and stabbed the policeman.

He added: “The knife found a gap in the officer’s vest under his armpit.”

The two other cops tackled the thug before their injured colleague was rushed to hospital.

Friel, who admitted the assault last November, got just 300 hours’community service at the court hearing last month — sparking a fierce backlash.

Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “Whilst sentencing is a matter for the court I’m sure that most members of the public — and every single police officer — will question this kind of incident when there is an attack to endangering a life.

“If that kind of crime doesn’t deserve a prison sentence then what crime does.”

3 Officers are not happy Credit: Peter Jolly

And Liam Kerr, the Conservative shadow justice secretary slammed the sentence as “insulting”.

He said: “This sends the wrong message entirely.

“Attacking a police officer is one of the most serious crimes and should be punished accordingly. We must never forget that our police officers run towards danger and selflessly protect the general public whenever it is asked of them.”

He added: “Officers and the public will be justifiably dismayed at this sentence and the insult to the victim it conveys.

“This also sends the wrong message to anyone else considering such an attack.”

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Police Scotland confirmed cops were dispatched to the knife threat on November 6 last year.

A force spokesman said: “Police received a report of concern relating to the behaviour of a male on the grounds of the Edinburgh College campus.

“Uniformed officers were first in attendance, but specialist resources were also called to the scene to provide assistance.

“While conducting initial inquiries on the campus, a police officer was attacked and sustained a non-life-threatening injury to his back.”

He added: “The safety of our officers is of paramount importance and a dynamic risk assessment is carried out during any police response to an ongoing incident.

“On the rare occasions an officer is injured in the line of duty the full circumstances will be reviewed and any learning outcomes ascertained will be built into future risk assessments.

thomas.brown@the-sun.co.uk

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