Postie disguise hitman is guilty of acid attack
Gangland thug with shocking record convicted of trying to maim journalist in vile assault on victim’s doorstep
A NOTORIOUS gangland thug was found guilty yesterday of throwing sulphuric acid in a crime reporter’s face.
Hitman William “Basil” Burns, 56, disguised himself as a postie before trying to maim Russell Findlay on the victim’s doorstep two days before Christmas.
Russell, 44, grabbed Burns and held him until help arrived. His terrified young daughter saw the aftermath of the attack, and he was lucky not to be blinded and disfigured.
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found Burns guilty of assaulting Russell to the danger of his life.
They then heard that he got six years in 1996 for threatening a security guard with a gun after he stole a cake, and 15 years in 2001 for shooting a female security guard in the arm at close range during a Post Office robbery.
Burns attacked Russell after being freed early from the 15-year sentence. He has other convictions for assault, gun offences and carrying weapons.
He showed no emotion at yesterday’s verdict and was remanded in custody for sentence next month.
Alleged getaway driver Alex Porter, 48, was cleared on a not proven verdict.
Burns went to Russell’s door in Glasgow’s west end at 8.30am on December 23, 2015. He said he had a parcel for him, gave him a card to sign, then flung the acid.
Russell said: “I felt liquid on my face. Something very wrong had happened. He came at me in the hall.”
He said he wrestled Burns out of the house, held him and yelled for help.
Russell told an earlier abandoned trial his daughter was “very scared”. She ran to a neighbour for help while he held Burns.
He said he asked the thug: “Why did they send a fat clown like you as a hitman? Is this all I’m worth?”
He added: “I asked who sent him and he said, ‘Wee Jamie sends his regards.’”
A knife and a broken set of dentures were found. Russell said: “They are my assailant’s false teeth.”
Buckets of water thrown over Russell’s face limited the effects of the acid.
Burns denied taking acid or a knife to Russell’s home and said he had only wanted to “beat him up”.
He said Russell had threatened to show his wife a photo of him with another woman, and claimed his victim must have thrown the acid into his own face.
Prosecutors called his claims absurd and Russell denied making any threat. He was with the Scottish Sun at the time of the attack after leaving our sister paper the Sunday Mail.
Russell said after the case that Burns was paid to attack him by “a major organised criminal in prison for another matter”.
He added: “This man should be held to account. I have concerns about Police Scotland and the Crown Office choosing not to conduct any meaningful investigation into his role.”
Burns and Porter, of Paisley, were cleared earlier in the trial of attempting to murder gangland figure Ross Sherlock in a gun attack near a primary School in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, in 2015.