FREED TO COMMIT 26 MORE CRIMES
Brutal attacker was offending again just weeks after getting out
indictments, which had 72 charges.
Well-known gangsters from the Edinburgh area have been named in police reports as his suspected accomplices.
Ramsay also fled police in high-speed escapes with stolen cars.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Ramsay was sent back to jail to complete the 556 days, with two years added on afterwards. But he could serve as little 21 months under early release rules.
Fiscal depute Aidan Higgins told the court: “The accused’s offending in this case arises from his significant involvement as a principal member of an organised crime gang.”
Ramsay’s well-drilled team of crooks targeted a Pizza Express in the capital last August, with men wearing balaclavas descending through the skylight before stealing a safe holding £2000. They then struck at a city shop, where gang members including Ramsay were in and out in two minutes with a £2200 haul of cigarettes. The raiders also targeted posh family homes, grabbing valuable contents and stealing keys for the owner’s expensive cars. The vehicles, including a £45,000 BMW X4 and £36,000 Audi Q3 from one address, were then used as getaway cars for further burglaries. Last September, Ramsay was spotted in a Vauxhall Corsa by officers in a marked police car and they tried to pull him over. But Ramsay drove at up to 50mph on the wrong side of the road to escape. The next day in Niddrie, Ramsay evaded police cars in a Corsa, mounting pavements and taking blind corners at speed, while several children played in the street.
The court heard a “vast amount of evidence’ had been gathered against Ramsay, who was arrested in September.
His lawyer Elspeth McPartlin said her client had attempted to go straight upon release but “things began to unravel”.
Once free, Ramsay, who is from Gorebridge, Midlothian, went to live with his partner and their young daughter and got work as a roofer.
But the relationship quickly broke down and Ramsay then took up with Charlene Gilroy, 28, from Niddrie.
Gilroy was his co-accused on several charges but her not guilty pleas were accepted.
McPartlin said Ramsay had started to “associate with people he encountered in prison” and became “increasingly reckless”. ● ●