Tory leadership hopeful Russell Findlay has been warned by police of a gangster plot to kill him.
Mr Findlay, who once had acid thrown in his face by an underworld thug, was informed of the dire threat on his life just days ago.
The terrifying bid to inflict serious harm on the MSP came shortly before he launched his bid to lead the Scottish Conservatives.
CID officers told the former journalist they had intelligence that his life was in danger – and the plot may be linked to the failed hit on him nine years ago.
William Burns, a hired hitman carrying a knife, threw acid in Mr Russell’s face as he answered the door at his Glasgow home in 2015.
Police Scotland notified Russell Findlay of intelligence about a plot to murder him
The 51-year-old father, whose young daughter witnessed the attack, managed to overpower his attacker and Burns was later jailed for 10 years. But he has a parole hearing next week and could be free within days.
Revealing the new threat in an exclusive interview with the Scottish Daily Mail, Mr Russell said the prisoner may regard him as ‘unfinished business’.
But he said the shock news that his life may again be in danger would not derail his bid to lead the Scottish Conservatives.
He said: ‘You can’t run away from this. You have to be defiant. Not in any reckless, foolish way, but they don’t respect weakness.’
Mr Russell also revealed that he had to tell his daughter, now 19, that another threat was hanging over him. He said she gave him her full backing.
At the time of the acid attack, Mr Findlay was an investigative journalist who specialised in exposing organised crime. He believed the motive for the hit was ‘payback’ for doing his job.
William Burns was jailed for 10 years for throwing acid in Mr Findlay’s face in 2015
In its immediate aftermath there was a race to save his eyesight and it took six months for his injuries to heal fully. He later gave evidence in Burns’s trial.
The chilling police warning comes at a time of heightened concerns around the security of politicians. In recent years MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess were both murdered as they went about constituency business.
Mr Russell said a Police Scotland officer emailed him to request a meeting last week and within half an hour of him contacting them by phone two CID officers were at his front door.
‘They essentially said they were in possession of some form of intelligence to suggest that someone by the name of Russell Findlay was in danger. There was some form of threat against him.
‘They couldn’t at that stage say it was me but, given all the circumstances, it seemed likely.’
The police then told him the name of ‘an individual’ who was from Paisley – the same town Burns was from.
‘I Googled the guy’s name there and then and saw a violent criminal, much younger than the guy that attacked me. I had never heard of him before, but this was supposedly where the threat was emanating from.’
A few days later, the CID officers said they had now spoken to the individual and established a link between him and Burns – which Mr Russell said came as ‘no surprise’.
Mr Russell told the Mail: ‘It’s a little bit tiresome and concerning that he would regard this as potentially unfinished business, if this is what this represents. So I would be foolish to be dismissive or flippant about it, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it.’
He said that, through all his years as a journalist, he kept as low a profile as possible to guard against just such an attack. For years he was not on the voters’ roll and his picture never appeared in newspapers.
But he broke cover as he campaigned to be an MSP – and now, as he bids to lead his party, he is among the most recognisable faces in Scottish politics.
Mr Findlay remains defiant and says he is ‘not going to lose sleep’ over threats
He said: ‘Being anonymous hadn’t helped me. They found me. They got to me. It could have been life ending rather than life changing.’
He added: ‘If I back down and go away quietly, what am I? Safer? I don’t think so.’
Mr Russell said that he had signed up to a victim notification scheme following the attack, which he said was ‘better than nothing’ but still left him largely in the dark.
He said: ‘If you’re someone who is genuinely fearful of the person who has caused you harm, that system is not fit for purpose, you know. I think there should be full transparency around parole.’
He added: ‘The system is so opaque. I think it wouldn’t surprise me if someone in [Burns’s] position would already be getting home visits and stuff in the community, but victims don’t know that.’
The MSP for West Scotland, who is the Conservatives’ justice spokesman at Holyrood,
launched his bid to succeed Douglas Ross as leader of his party by writing in the Mail earlier this week.
He said he wanted his party to renew its core purpose. ‘We will reconnect with our traditional values of enterprise, self-reliance, fiscal responsibility and the rule of law.’
Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn said: ‘While we don’t discuss individual security details, we take every threat seriously.
‘We have well established relationships with elected representatives and regularly discuss security arrangements further with them.
In addition, we work closely with UK policing colleagues to ensure all MSPs and MPs are aware of relevant personal safety advice.
‘We thoroughly investigate any reports of threats made and take appropriate action where any offences are identified.’
