Thugs jailed for hacking man with machete

TWO thugs guilty of a suspected gangland murder bid have each been sentenced to nine years.

Sammy Maxwell, 33, and Malcolm Cumlin, 31, brutally set upon Dylan Haldane in Maryhill Road on August 8, 2019.

The 33-year-old suffered skull and knee fractures after being hacked with a machete.

Dylan gave evidence during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow – but insisted his attackers had actually come to his aid.

Maxwell and Cumlin returned to the dock having earlier been found guilty of attempted murder.

Maxwell’s sentence was backdated to last year and Cumlin’s to 2019 when they were each first remanded.

Jurors heard how Dylan had earlier been clocked arguing with Maxwell and Cumlin in the Rams Head pub in Maryhill. Cumlin then appeared to reject a handshake from the victim.

Dylan left the bar around 7.15pm before being tailed by the duo.

Describing the attack, he recalled standing in a tenement close waiting for a takeaway meal when he heard a “buzzing”.

He said he turned round and spotted a man, who he named in court.

Dylan told prosecutor Euan Cameron: “He was someone who, for a number of years, I had a run in with and have had an ongoing feud. I felt a strike to the head, and I was knocked out. I do not know how long.”

Dylan claimed that he was “friends” with Maxwell and Cumlin adding they were at the scene to “comfort” him.

A passing cyclist that night told the trial how he had spotted a man striking another person on the ground “with what looked like a machete” before fleeing the scene with an accomplice.

Jurors heard Dylan spent more than a week in hospital – but did not say who was responsible.

He suffered six nasty wounds to his head and body, resulting in two skull fractures and internal bleeding. He was struck through to the bone on his arm and his kneecap was also fractured with tendons severed.

The court heard that both continue to deny being involved.