Six guilty of attacks including torching prison staff cars

Six men have been found guilty of a series of suspected gangland attacks including setting the cars of prison officers on fire outside a jail. 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 and a coma. They were found guilty of numerous offences including attempted murder, wilful fire-raising and attempting to pervert the course of justice after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. The men will be sentenced next month. The charges had been said to have had a connection with serious organised crime, but this aggravation was deleted by prosecutors at the end of the evidence. The judge, Lord Mulholland, however, said the men had been found guilty of "out of control gangsterism". Their first victim was attacked in Bilston, Midlothian in December 2022 when a 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 area on 5 January, 2023. He said he 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. He also needed a number of operations, has been 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 Lothianwere 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. The court heard all six men had lengthy criminal pasts. They were caught thanks to CCTV and forensic evidence, as well as a handwritten note branding a potential witness "a grass". McGovern, 33, fled Scotland via Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute and onto Dublin. He went on travel to the Netherlands before going to Cambodia, VIetnam, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates before being caught and extradited back to Scotland. He was cleared of attempted murder, but was found guilty along with Heeps, Ridgway and Mullen of being involved in the blazes at Addiewell. Heeps, 34, was convicted of eight charges including three attempted murders. Ridgeway, 32, was involved in three of the attempted murders and was convicted of eight charges. Jurors found Bauld, 33, was involved in two of those attacks and Mullen, 26, one of them. Murray, 25, was convicted of five charges, including two attempted murders. Lord Mulholland told them: "You have been convicted, to varying degrees, of a number of serious charges which can only be described as out-of-control gangsterism. "This was attacking a number of people with machetes to the extent one nearly had his hand chopped off. "You also travelled to HMP Addiewell where you set fire to six prison officers cars – a sinister crime against the very people tasked with executing the orders of the court. He added: "This was clearly intended to intimidate and send a message to those that worked at the prison." Det Supt Paul Grainger said the level of violence in the attacks was "completely unacceptable". He added: ""Although these were all targeted attacks, those involved showed absolutely no regard for the communities affected. "These incidents could have had much more serious consequences, and I want to make it clear this behaviour will not be tolerated."