An Aberdeenshire man has been found guilty of attempting to murder a biker and assaulting three other in a brutal roadside attack.
Ian Ewing, from Newtonhill, drove his Vauxhall Insignia at one biker and attacked another with a hammer.
When police searched the 44-year-old’s car, they found the weapon underneath a passenger seat and a top bearing the name “The Blue Angels” – Scotland’s oldest motorcycling gang, which has been linked to a number of violent attacks since its formation in the early 1990s.
However, officers were unable to establish if the top belonged to Ewing.
At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, a jury found Ewing guilty of attempting to murder Colin Sutherland and assaulting John Sutherland to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
He was also convicted of assaulting Edward Forrest to his severe injury and to the danger of his life, and assaulting Nicky Syratt to his injury and danger of his life.
Ewing’s co-accused, Patrick Noble, 52, of Aberdeen, was acquitted on the same charges after the jury returned not proven verdicts.
Kyle Urquhart, 22, and Ian Yeomans,57, were also acquitted earlier in the trial.
During the eight-day trial, the court heard Ewing drove his car at Colin Sutherland and collided with the motorcyclist forcing him to fall off his bike.
Jurors also saw footage of Ewing and his accomplices use a knife to cut off waistcoats bearing the name “Nomads”, another motorcycle club.
The jury heard that the attack caused traffic to stop moving on the road. Motorists captured footage of the incident with their mobile phones, which showed a group of motorcyclists beating men lying on the road.
Joan Stewart, 56, said she was frightened by what she witnessed.
She added: “I saw a body on the ground with somebody on top with a hammer beating the chap on the ground.
“I saw another body lying on the ground as well. He seemed to be unconscious and in a pretty bad state.”
Police arrested Ewing shortly afterwards, and he was in his car with a group of other men.When they searched his car, they found a hammer containing his DNA hidden beneath a seat. The head of the hammer also matched an indentation on Mr Forrest’s helmet.
Yesterday, judge Lady Scott deferred sentence for background reports after hearing father-of-one Ewing had previous convictions for road traffic offences. He was remanded in custody, and will be sentenced on March 17.
Following conviction, Ewing’s advocate Susan Duff told Lady Scott that he had worked as an operations manager for facility management company Mitie.
When Lady Scott asked Ms Duff what that job entailed, the lawyer replied: “He was in charge of maintenance contracts with the police and fire service.
“However, he has since lost that job and has spent the past few months working on a self-employed basis for Hermes delivery service.”
As his advocate was speaking, Ewing sat in the dock and shook his head in disbelief.
Last night, area commander Chief Inspector Norman Stevenson, welcomed the conviction and said: “Police Scotland welcomes the conviction of Ian Ewing for attempted murder at the Edinburgh High Court today. Although it was an isolated incident, it was very shocking for the victims and caused a great deal of distress and concern to the other motorists and residents of the local community who were unfortunate to witness it.
“Thankfully this type of behaviour is not common for the Moray area but I want to make it absolutely clear that we will not tolerate it at all and we will do everything we can to bring those responsible for such crimes before the courts.”
