Six men have been jailed for a series of violent gangland attacks including attempted murders and setting prison officers’ cars on fire.
Michael Heeps, John Murray, Lee Ridgway, Dale Bauld, Damien Mullen and Ryan McGovern targeted a number of victims in and around Edinburgh between late 2022 and early 2023.
One attack left a man with his hand “hanging off,” while another saw a victim left in intensive care.
At a sentencing hearing in Glasgow, Heeps was given 23 years, Murray was sentenced to 17 years, Ridgway got 22 years, Bauld was ordered to serve 17 years, Mullen was given 14 years and McGovern was jailed for eight years.
Judge Lord Mulholland, said the men had been found guilty of “out of control gangsterism”.
They were found guilty of numerous offences including attempted murder, wilful fire-raising and attempting to pervert the course of justice at the High Court in Glasgow last month.
Hand ‘almost severed’
The group’s first victim was attacked in Bilston, Midlothian in December 2022 when the gang attacked his car and smashed it up with bladed weapons.
He told a 999 call they had tried to “chop him up”.
Another man was targeted by a machete-wielding assailant near his home in Edinburgh’s Pilton on 5 January, 2023.
The man had attempted to fend off the attacker after he pulled up in a car and began striking him with the weapon.
His hand was almost completely severed in the attack, after which he was rushed to hospital and spent 12 hours in surgery.
The man said he thought he was “dying on the doorstep”.
Another man was targeted in a “high speed chase” between Edinburgh and Dalkeith.
He was forced off the road and his car smashed into a wall. The man was left with a “large gaping wound” to his arm after he was struck with machetes.
After several operations, he was left scarred for life and remains physically affected by the incident.
On 7 January, 2023, six cars belonging to staff at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian were set on fire late at night.
Later that month, another of the gang’s victims was ambushed by masked attackers in the Ferniehill area of Edinburgh.
His injuries were so severe he ended up in intensive care and a coma.
More to follow.
