Murdered boxer's brothers jailed for 'horrific' torture

Alex McKinnon

Colin McKinnon, 38, and Thomas McKinnon, 31, were convicted of attempting to murder drug dealer David Taylor, who was subjected to an hour-long catalogue of violence after being lured to a Craigentinny flat.

During the attack, branded "sickening" by detectives, the pair, along with their brother-in-law Jamie Ferguson, 26, also poured a kettle of boiling water over victim Margaret Neilson.

A court heard that the McKinnons, whose brother Alex McKinnon was gunned down five years ago, used Taylor to sell drugs on their behalf, but suspected he and Neilson had been stealing from them.

They tricked the victims into coming to a ground-floor flat belonging to an associate in Craigentinny Road on July 14 last year, where both Taylor and Neilson were seized by the arms and dragged to the kitchen.

The torture gang stuffed socks in the victims' mouths and taped them shut.

Neilson was stabbed with a knife in the hand before having the kettle of scolding water poured over her legs, which left severe burns and blisters.

She was eventually locked in a bathroom while the McKinnons and Ferguson spent an hour torturing Taylor, punching him on the head and body, headbutting him, and stabbing him repeatedly with a knife, as well as trying to pour boiling water over him.

Detective Sergeant Mike Leask, who led the investigation, told the Evening News: "David Taylor was stabbed again and again in the legs and body. He suffered a stab wound to the bowel so severe that it actually caused his bowel to fall out. Fearing that he was about to die, he jumped through the kitchen window and ran through the back garden and on to Craigentinny Golf Course course where he was found on the fairway by golfers."

Neither Taylor, who is in his late 30s, nor Neilson, who is in her 40s, admitted to stealing drugs worth thousands of pounds from the McKinnons during the torture ordeal.

Both were left terrified and went into hiding, but were traced by police and gave evidence during the trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The McKinnons were found guilty by a jury of the attempted murder of Taylor and attacking Neilson to her severe injury and disfigurement, with each receiving ten years in prison and a five-year extended sentence.

Co-accused Ferguson was given seven years and a three-year extended sentence for attacking the victims to their severe injury and disfigurement, but cleared of the attempted murder of Taylor. Charges against the McKinnons of dealing heroin and amphetamine from a property in Meadowbank between July 14 2009 and July 14 last year were withdrawn by the Crown.

The addresses for all three men were given as Saughton Prison.

DS Leask added: "This was a truly horrific crime. The level of violence used was sickening and they were completely callous. We are delighted by the sentence. They are a danger to the public."

Notorious family

THE McKinnon brothers have been involved in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years.

Colin McKinnon was previously jailed for three years in January 2008 for selling drugs to an undercover police officer.

He was arrested in Operation Logic, set up to target dealers preying on homeless people in drop-in centres and hostels in Edinburgh.

Former bantamweight boxer Alex McKinnon, 32, died after being shot by gunman Jamie Bain at The Marmion Bar in April 2006. Bain and his accomplices Richard Cosgrove and Bernard Young were jailed for a total of 61 years.

Another McKinnon brother, Shaun (pictured), was sentenced to four-and-a-half years last April after admitting being concerned in the supply of heroin.

The 24-year-old was tracked by officers driving to Manchester to pick up heroin with a street value of nearly 50,000. During the police operation cocaine and heroin worth more than 200,000 on the streets were recovered.