Court clears gangland figure of demanding cash from Wishaw woman after she fails to appear as witnes

Описание: Gangland enforcer Ian ‘Blink’ MacDonald has been cleared of demanding money from a woman in Wishaw after claims that she is too ill to give evidence against him.  MacDonald, 58, once jailed over a £6 million bank heist, was charged with threatening or abusive behaviour towards the woman.  It was alleged he went to an office in Wishaw and the home of the woman’s parents in nearby Bothwell and stared through windows.  MacDonald, of Glasgow, was accused of demanding money from the woman - said to be a stranger to him - pursuing her and causing her to believe he was pursuing members of her family.  His trial went ahead at Hamilton Sheriff Court at the third time of asking, but without the woman, who was the main Crown witness.  For the third time she produced a doctor’s letter, saying she was medically unfit to attend and give evidence.  Aga Mathieson, prosecuting, asked that the statement she gave police about the alleged incident in July last year be used instead.  But Blink’s lawyer, Laura Kiernan, said this would be unfair to her client as there would be no opportunity to cross examine the witness.  Kiernan said the Crown should have explored other options such as having the woman testify via videolink or putting the case off until her mental health improved.  Sheriff Linda Nicolson rejected the Crown move.  The court was then shown CCTV footage of a man – said to be Blink – outside the home of the woman’s parents.  The woman’s father said the man was not known to him.  After his evidence Mathieson said she would not be proceeding with the trial and the sheriff told Blink he was free to go.  MacDonald was once a feared enforcer for Glasgow crime lord Arthur Thompson.  In 1992 he was jailed for 16 years for his part in a botched £6 million bank raid in Devon in which a teller was shot in the head. Then in 2009 Blink cheated death when gangland rivals tried to blow up his car in Riddrie, Glasgow.  Four years ago he was jailed for two months for a row with a fellow passenger on a flight from Glasgow to Fuerteventura. Court clears gangland figure of demanding cash from Wishaw woman after she fails to appear as witnes
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