Man admits shotgun attack on young father

Jun 12 2008

A BLANTYRE man has admitted shooting a young father on his doorstep with a sawn-off shotgun.

Callous Gary McFadyen (26) blasted Barry Simpson, the father of a month old baby, from a range of just three feet.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Mr Simpson’s chest was peppered with shotgun pellets, some of which were embedded in a rib.

Amazingly, however, there was no damage to any of his internal organs.

McFadyen’s address was given as c/o Barlinnie Prison but he previously stayed in Blantyre’s Berkley Drive.

He admitted attempting to murder Mr Simpson on January 22 this year at the close at 1/7 Ballantrae Road, Blantyre, by shooting him.

McFadyen’s girlfriend Danielle Hughes, (29), of Rannoch Court, and her friend Alana Brankin (30), of Ardgour Court, both Blantyre, were originally charged with attempted murder, but were freed last week after the prosecution accepted their pleas of not guilty.

Derick Nelson, prosecuting, told the court that just before the attack Mr Simpson and a neighbour, also the father of an 11-week-old baby, complained to two drunk girls about their comings and goings in the flat where they lived in Blantyre.

One of them, Danielle Hughes, was McFadyen's girlfriend. Mr Nelson said the two girls were told in no uncertain terms not to return by Mr Simpson’s neighbour.

He added: "This did not go down well and they could be heard complaining loudly.

"The neighbour come out of his flat where upon an argument began with Barry Simpson also leaving his flat to join in and usher the two women from the close."

That incident, the court heard, was the catalyst for the shotgun attack on Mr Simpson.

The women complained to McFadyen, who armed himself with a sawn-off shotgun and returned to the flat at Ballantrae Road where Mr Simpson and his neighbour lived.

McFadyen shouted through the neighbour's window while he was on the phone to the police, and he in turn shouted back saying he had a young child in the house.

Mr Nelson said: "Barry Simpson heard the shouting and left his flat to walk to the main close door.

"As he opened it he saw McFadyen approaching him shouting: 'Chucking ma bird out the close.'

"McFadyen, who was three to five feet from Mr Simpson, pointed the gun at him.

"Realising it was a gun, Mr Simpson tried to close the door, but the gun was fired striking him in his left side."

The judge Lord Hodge heard how Mr Simpson ran back into his flat and locked the door.

He was taken to Hairmyres Hospital with a large wound to his lower chest wall which resulted in a loss of skin and muscle.

He went through an exploratory operation during which 17 pellets were removed.

The doctor said while his life wasn't in imminent danger any slight change in the direction of the shot would have presented a "very really danger" to his life.

The court heard the shotgun was recovered in a pillowcase hanging from a fallen tree branch over a burn.

McFadyen, who also admitted a firearms offence, will be sentenced later this month.