'˜UVF' thug donned mask to beat up man

Edward Lindsay served a 10 year jail term for his part in a cell operating a drugs ring in Edinburgh but was released in 2009 and set up home in Anstruther.

Last December a pub row ended in friends of his calling on the Belfast born criminal to mete out summary justice.

Jeffrey Fry had had an altercation in a pub with Shane Pender.

He went home and told Lee Johnston of the incident - and that pair then summoned Lindsay and Scott Murray to go to Mr Pender’s home.

Once there the living room window was smashed with a brick before Lindsay - who had donned either a balaclava or a scarf over his face - and Murray started battering the door.

It was then opened - with Shane Pender’s father, Paul Pender (43) being dragged from the property and laid out by the pair.

They then inflicted a brutal beating on Mr Pender Sr.

He told a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court that the sustained attack only stopped when a witness claimed to have seen a meat cleaver in Lindsay’s possession and said they were calling the police.

A charge that Lindsay was in possession of the knife was found not proven.

Mr Pender, a Fife Council caretaker, said: “After that all four all of them jumped over the fence and were trying to apologise to me.

“It was actually my son they were after - not me.

“Shortly after that Lee Johnston came to my door and said he was apologising and wanted to sort it out.

“The police sirens could be heard in the distance and they just disappeared at that.

“I was shaken up.

“I had injuries to my head, chest, face and back - cuts and bruises mostly.

“I had to go on sleeping tablets because I couldn’t get to sleep after that and I was off work for a month and a half.”

Jeffrey Fry (53) and Edward Lindsay (36), both Anstruther, Scott Murray (40) of Pittenweem, and Lee Johnston (28) of Cellardyke, denied assaulting Paul Pender.

Fry had his not guilty plea accepted at the close of the Crown case while Johnston was found not guilty by the jury.

However, after deliberating for just over an hour the jury of eight men and seven women found Lindsay and Murray guilty of the assault by a majority.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson then revealed: “Accused Lindsay had a number of previous High Court convictions including one from 2003 where he received 10 years for convictions including an abduction.”

Defence solicitor John Boyle, for Lindsay, said: “Given his record he knows prison is inevitable.”

And David Duncan, for Murray, added: “His criminal record is from 1995 and is simply cases at district court level dealt with by fines.”

Sheriff Simon Collins QC deferred sentence until next month and remanded both men in custody meantime.