An Irish thug previously jailed for his part in a reign of terror faces a new jail term after he was convicted of a brutal beating.
Edward Lindsay served a 10-year jail term for his part in what was claimed to be an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) cell operating a drugs ring in Edinburgh.
They used horrendous paramiltary-style violence to operate their syndicate and Lindsay was convicted of his part in a horrific abduction in which the victim was grabbed, hooded, bundled into a car and subjected to severe violence.
He was released in 2009 and set up home in Anstruther. But last December his violent streak returned to the fore when a pub row ended in friends of his calling on the Belfast-born criminal to mete out summary justice.
Jeffrey Fry had had an altercation in a pub with Shane Pender and went home and told Lee Johnston of the incident, the pair then summoning Lindsay and Scott Murray to go to Mr Pender’s home.
Once there, the living room window was smashed with a brick before
Lindsay – who had either a balaclava or a scarf over his face – and Murray started battering the door.
It was opened and Shane Pender’s father, Paul Pender, 43, was dragged from the property and laid out by the pair. They then inflicted a brutal beating on Mr Pender Snr.
He told a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court that the sustained attack only stopped when a witness claimed to have seen a meat cleaver in Lindsay’s possession and said they were calling the police.
A charge that Lindsay was in possession of the knife was found not proven.
Mr Pender, a Fife Council caretaker, said: “After that all four all of them jumped over the fence and were trying to apologise to me. It was actually my son they were after, not me.
“I was shaken up. I had to go on sleeping tablets because I couldn’t get to sleep after that and I was off work for a month and a half.”
Jeffrey Fry, 53, of Venus Place, Anstruther, Edward Lindsay, 36, of Mayview Avenue, Anstruther, Scott Murray, 40, of St Abbs Crescent, Pittenweem, and Lee Johnston, 28, of George Street, Cellardyke, denied assaulting Paul Pender.
Fry had his not guilty plea accepted at the close of the Crown case. Johnston was found not guilty by the jury.
After deliberating for just over an hour, the jury of eight men and seven women found Lindsay and Murray guilty of the assault by a majority.
Depute fiscal Eilidh Robertson then revealed: “Accused Lindsay had a
number of previous High Court convictions, including one from 2003 where he received 10 years for convictions including an abduction.”
Defence solicitor John Boyle, for Lindsay, said: “Given his record, he knows prison is inevitable.”
Sheriff Simon Collins QC deferred sentence until next month and remanded both men in custody.
