Why was he free?
Machete-wielding thug threatened to behead doctor in terrifying raid...while under social workers’ supervision
A MACHETE thug carried out a terrifying attack on a family in their own home – while he was meant to be monitored by the authorities.
Michael McInnes was part of a gang who forced their way into a doctor’s home before slashing him and threatening to behead him. They then stole cars and jewellery.
The 28-year-old is due to be sentenced this week after admitting assault and robbery.
McInnes was meant to be under the supervision of social workers, having been freed from prison.
In 2010, he was jailed after admitting attempted murder.
He battered Kevin McNee, now 37, so badly he was left with severe brain damage and had to learn to walk and talk again. The judge who jailed McInnes decided he was so dangerous he gave him an extended sentence to protect the public.
Last night, Mr McNee’s mother Agnes, 55, said: ‘I said before he is a very dangerous man. The judge warned he was capable of doing it again, now look. He should get as long as they can give him. They should throw the book at him.’
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘This is yet another example of the SNP’s soft-touch approach to justice failing victims of crime.
‘This man was supposed to be under supervision, yet was able to terrorise this family.
‘Questions must be asked as to why this happened when there was clearly a high risk of reoffending.
‘Our justice system must do more to protect victims of crime and stop dangerous people like this committing such horrendous crimes.’
In April last year, McInnes, of Newarthill, Lanarkshire, assaulted and robbed Dr John Davidson and his wife Caroline, both 57, and their 27-year-old son Gavin at their home in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.
Declan McCluskey, 23, of Hamilton, was convicted of assault and robbery after a trial last month. McInnes admitted the charges. The pair face lengthy jail terms when they are sentenced on Tuesday at the High Court in Glasgow.
The trial heard they were part of a five-strong gang who stole the family’s £70,000 Range Rover, as well as items including a £4,000 diamond ring and £2,000 Rolex watch.
CCTV cameras captured the gang prowling outside shortly before the raid. There was a ‘loud crash’ as they forced their way inside. One thug had a machete and demanded to know where the safe was.
Dr Davidson, a consultant anaesthetist at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, was wounded on the leg with the machete and threatened with beheading. He said he had ‘never been as scared in my life’.
He ended up with his son upstairs and said: ‘Caroline was huddled in the kitchen, she was a wreck. My wife was absolutely sodden with tears. She had actually thought we were dead upstairs.’
The gang escaped with the Range Rover as well as a Volkswagen Golf. But they struck a wall with the 4x4 and struggled to start the VW. McInnes and McCluskey were later traced by police – but the other three were never caught.
In 2010, McInnes was jailed for six years, with three years of supervision post-release for attempting to murder Mr McNee in Coatbridge in May 2009.
Sentencing him, Lord Pentland said: ‘As a result of this vicious and unprovoked attack, the victim has been left with substantial disabilities, which will be permanent. The attack involved an element of planning and premeditation on your part and was fuelled by your consumption of drink and drugs.’
He added that at only 20, McInnes had ‘already accumulated a bad criminal record, including convictions for offences of violence’.
In 2013 while on home leave from Castle Huntly prison, McInnes failed to return. It took police a week to raise the alarm. He was on the run for ten days and had four months added to his sentence.
He was released and ordered to be supervised by the local authority – including regular meetings with a social worker.
‘He should get as long as they can give him’ ‘My wife thought we were dead upstairs’