Gang 'threatened dad in phone calls'

A FATHER told a court that he was informed over the phone that he had to get a man or the caller's "stuff" or he would not see his youngest son again.

Ronald Hunter, 48, said he was warned in a series of calls: "You don't know what you are dealing with."

The following day he received a call from his son Aaron, who was aged 16, in which he said: "It's alright, dad. They let me go."

Mr Hunter was giving evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday at the trial of four men who are accused of abducting his son in October 2008 from the then family home at Clermiston Place and attempting to extort money and drugs.

Joseph Lindsay, 26, Brian Sloan, 24, Craig Gallagher, 31, and Sean Givens, 26, all deny the charge. The trial before Lord Brailsford continues.