Lanarkshire gunman jailed for broad daylight attack

A gunman guilty of a double murder bid has been jailed for 12 years.

James McAulay blasted John Gray and Marc McCarthy in broad daylight in Glenboig, Lanarkshire on November 21 2020.

The shooting followed an earlier incident where a gun was brandished at a flat in Stirling as well as an attack of another man in Dunfermline, Fife.

The crimes were said to have been as a result of "some sort of disagreement".

McAulay was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.

The 31 year-old ex-scaffolding firm boss had earlier been convicted of two attempted murder charges.

He was also guilty of assault, damaging property and threatening behaviour.

The charges spanned between September 2019 and November 2020.

Lord Scott told McAulay: "The course of criminal conduct involved crimes of varying degrees of seriousness.

"They culminated in the attempted murders by discharging a shotgun at two individuals in the afternoon on a public street.

"There may have been little of no injury, but it is no more than good fortune that neither man was killed."

McAulay had been subject to three bail orders at the time of the murder bids including one from the high court made just weeks earlier.

He will be supervised for a further four years on his release.

Lord Scott said he had decided against calling for a risk assessment, which could have lead to McAulay being hit with an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

Jurors earlier heard how Mr Gray and Mr McCarthy had a shotgun fired at them by a masked attacker in Marnoch Drive, Glenboig.

McAulay struck having threatened Mark Purvis at a house in Dunfermline in September 2019.

Two months later, he was said to be with accomplices as they stormed a flat in Stirling, brandished a shotgun at those inside and smashed windows.

In January 2020, Mr Purvis was then subjected to a "sustained" assault at the same property in Dunfermline leaving him injured.

Jonathan Crowe, defending, said: "He maintains his position of no acceptance or responsibility."

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