Duo threatened to rape businessman’s wife and abduct kids if he didn’t pay £20,000

They made chilling call to undertaker to ‘collect child’s body’ from the family home

A DUNFERMLINE businessman received threatening phone calls saying his wife would be raped and his children abducted if he did not pay £20,000.

A call was even made to a local funeral director ordering a child’s body to be collected from the family’s home as part of the intimidation campaign.

Another Dunfermline man also received threats, saying he would have to pay £5,000 or he and his family would be assaulted.

Two men from Ayr have been found guilty of attempted extortion following a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

In the dock were Scott Colville, 43, of Churchill Towers and David McCallum, 39, of Inkerman Court.

They were both convicted by the jury on the two charges they faced.

On various occasions between July 3 and 8, 2019 in Dunfermline and elsewhere, with the intention of menacing a man and extorting £20,000 from him, they made phone calls threatening him that unless he paid that sum they would abduct his children, assault him and his family members, rape his wife.

They also obtained photographs of his children and contacted a funeral director to seek to falsely arrange the collection of a child’s body from the family’s home.

On July 7 and 8, 2019 in Dunfermline and elsewhere, they attempted to extort £5,000 from another man by making phone calls to him threatening to assault him and family members.

The first man targeted runs a roofing business.

He told the court he had no idea who was on the line when he started receiving the threatening calls.

His wife became upset as she gave her evidence, saying she had heard the callers making the threats of rape and abducting their children.

Colville and McCallum will be sentenced on November 18 and bail was continued.