10 years’ jail for thug who threw acid at journalist
A CAREER criminal who threw acid on a journalist in a ‘vicious, premeditated attack’ was yesterday jailed for ten years.
William Burns, 56, assaulted Russell Findlay while disguised as a postman on the doorstep of his Glasgow home.
The thug threw sulphuric acid on the 44year-old’s face before knocking him to the ground then attacking him.
But Mr Findlay fought back as his terrified young daughter ran to a neighbour’s home for help on December 23, 2015.
Buckets of water were poured over Mr Findlay’s face, diluting the acid’s effect.
Burns was found guilty of assaulting the crime writer to the danger of his life following a trial in Glasgow last month. He had claimed he had only went to the journalist’s home to beat him up.
His sentencing comes amid rising concern at a spate of acid attacks, prompting Theresa May to promise urgent action.
The judge who jailed Burns told him that ‘the freedom of the Press is an essential tool in the armoury of any democracy’.
Burns insisted that Mr Findlay had told him he had a compromising photo of him with a young blonde woman.
Lord Matthews imposed a 15-year extended sentence at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday – ten years’ custody with five years’ supervision after Burns is released.
Lord Matthews said Burns had been convicted of a ‘vicious, premeditated attack’, adding: ‘You were caught virtually red-handed and your own evidence was an obvious fabrication from start to finish, plainly being made up as you were going along.
‘Leaving aside your own explanation why you were there, the only reason I can discern for your actions is you objected to something that your victim wrote.’
He also told Burns: ‘The freedom of the Press is an essential tool in the armoury of any democracy and attacks of this nature will not be tolerated.
‘You have a bad record and are clearly a dangerous man.’
At the previous hearing it was revealed Burns, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, had an extensive criminal record.
He was jailed for 15 years in 2001 after
‘You are clearly a dangerous man’
gunning down a woman during a post office robbery in Linwood, Renfrewshire.
In 1996, he was also locked up for six years for threatening a security guard with a gun after he stole a cake from a Marks and Spencer store in Paisley. He has also been convicted of charges of assault, firearms and carrying offensive weapons.
Mr Findlay, who has written books on gangland crime, branded Burns a ‘coward’ after the conviction and said that the verdict was the ‘only possible outcome’.
Earlier this month the Metropolitan Police equipped officers with 1,000 kits to tackle acid attacks in London.
Frontline officers will also get protective gear and be trained to give medical help.
Campaigners want the Government to make it more difficult to buy highly corrosive substances – ranging from drain cleaner to sulphuric acid.
Mrs May has suggested action is a priority. A No10 spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister believes the use of acid in this way is horrific and we want to work… to see what more can be done.’