Breakdowns a nightmare for sleepers
ON THE ROPES James in show
BY CHRISTINE SMITH
SAS: Who Dares Wins finalist James Priestley has revealed he was lucky to survive a savage revenge attack after his Falklands veteran dad stole £1million from drug dealers.
And he then received a suspended sentence for conspiracy to launder the money, as his father tried to hide the loot in a bank account in James’ name.
James, 30 – one of seven men and women to reach the reality show’s final on Sunday – opens up about his extraordinary past to presenter Ant Middleton this weekend.
Growing up in Keighley, West Yorks, with brothers, Nathan and Adam and mum Derry, James says he was a ‘tearaway’ as dad Dean was in and out of jail.
“Throughout our life, it was normal to have people in balaclavas in our kitchen with shotguns,” he says. “There would be gangsters around all the time.”
But after his dad stole the drug money, there was a target on the backs of every member of the family.
James says: “One weekend I came home and I noticed a car looking suspicious. No sooner had I said this to my mum and brother when some men came out in balaclavas and attacked us.
“I tried to fight them off but they sprayed me in the face with mace.”
“They were all on my brother and hitting him with metal bars,” says James.
“He managed to get away and so did my mum. We ran down the lane and the car hit me, my ankles went under and my back hit the bonnet.
“They put the brakes on and I went flying through the air.”
James escaped to a nearby house and the police were called.
“These guys were here to kill,” he says. “You don’t repeatedly hit someone in the head with a bar to beat them up. You do it to end their life.”
Years earlier in 1999, ex-Navy
BY PAUL RODGER CALEDONIAN Sleeper has slated the firm that provides its trains after breakdowns left services arriving nearly seven hours late.
Managing director Ryan Flaherty said he was “extremely disappointed” and branded the disruption caused by GB Railfreight as “unacceptable”.
Five trains between Scotland and London were affected overnight on January 31 and February 2, with passengers saying there was no heating, or flushing toilets.
The Highlander service arrived in London six hours and 35 minutes late.
A London-bound passenger said: “I couldn’t believe it when I woke up and saw [we] were only 35 miles out of Edinburgh.”
Railfreight apologised for any inconvenience.