Russell Findlay agrees he can be a very difficult man.
An obsessive drive to get the bottom of things during almost 30 years as a journalist made him a few powerful enemies.
His confrontational ethos brought dozens of criminals, crooked lawyers and disreputable politicians to public attention.
But life was turned upside down two days before Christmas 2015 when a hitman disguised as a postie turned up at Findlay’s home and threw sulphuric acid in his face.
Luckily, violent William “Basil” Burns, also armed with a knife and carrying out the orders of a Mr Big, underestimated his target.
Findlay smashed out the thug’s false teeth and wrestled him to the ground before police turned up.
It is no exaggeration to say that many of the bad actors who occupy Scotland’s gangland will have breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he quit investigative journalism.
However the 48-year-old – who spent almost two decades working at the Sunday Mail – isn’t finished taking them on just yet.
They can expect a bit more of the same if he is successful in his bid to become an MSP at Holyrood on May 6.
Findlay, who is standing for the Scottish Conservatives in Paisley, said: “Just having my photo taken is something I initially felt uncomfortable with.
“I spent decades in the shadows because I knew a lot of the serious criminals I was writing about would have very much liked to know what I looked like.
“So when I was considering standing to become an MSP it was a huge step to decide to put my face in the public domain.
“I am not naive about what happened to me, there are some very dangerous, wealthy and well-connected people who are not going to forget about the reports and investigations I conducted into their affairs.
“But I believe organised crime in Scotland is a very real and considerable problem currently being emboldened by a weak justice system and I want to do something about that because it is our communities, often our poorest communities, that suffer.”
The married dad started his career at the Glaswegian local newspaper in 1993 before moving to the Sunday Mail two years later, where he stayed until 2014.
The ex-reporter has also written three books and in 2019 his interview with murderers Edward Cairney, 77, and Avril Jones, 59, helped have the pair convicted for killing 19-year-old Margaret Fleming.
Over the years, he forged a reputation as one of Scotland’s most fearless journalists. Not content to shine a light on hardened criminals running their empires, he also tackled corruption and wrongdoing in the criminal justice system, including exposing bent police.
He added: “As a journalist I spent a long time fighting for the underdogs of society and the Sunday Mail does that every single week on behalf of its readers.
“In that role, you are getting under the skin of what is going on. You are constantly challenging authority.
“I do sense sometimes that Holyrood is a bit pedestrian and that the journalistic background of investigating, challenging and calling out wrongdoing is applicable to politics.
“For example, there is a serious drug problem in Scotland and while we rightly look at it as a public health crisis, it is also a law enforcement issue.
“I am not talking about the street level dealers, I am talking about the multi-millionaires who are often outwardly respectable with legitimate businesses. They don’t seem in the least bit troubled by our criminal justice system.”
As well as standing in Paisley, he also has a chance of becoming a regional list MSP. And he is clear about what his priorities will be if elected.
He said: “Everyone goes in with good intentions but I think there is a real blind spot when it comes to accepting how insidious organised crime can be.
“There is an element of naivety and maybe fear in the political system. I was never reckless or cavalier about what I did as a journalist, nor am I going to start being reckless now. But it is absolutely something that needs attention.
“I was attacked in my own home, we have had a lawyer stabbed outside court, we have had newspaper distribution drivers seriously attacked, you have had a prison officer’s home shot at, we had a councillor in Lanarkshire being targeted.
“Ordinary people are often very badly let down by the authorities.”
Findlay, who was the victim of the terrifying acid attack on December 23, 2015, can point to his own assailant’s treatment as evidence of a broken system.
Burns, who has an appalling record for violence and has been a suspect to gangland killings, was sentenced to 15 years – a 10-year jail term plus five years of supervision. But he is now eligible for parole, having served half the custodial part of his punishment.
Findlay said: “On the day he was sentenced, he was given 15 years but when you dig into it, that was 10 years custodial and five years on some sort of monitoring programme.
“What 10 years’ custodial means is that you can apply for probation at the halfway point.
“So he came to a family home in a highly-planned attack. He found out where I lived, staked out my property and got a proper Royal Mail uniform to disguise himself. I could very easily have been killed, it is no exaggeration to say that.
“He lost control of his knife and he could have stabbed me. It only takes one stab wound to kill you.
“My daughter could have come down to find her dad dead two days before Christmas. So for him to potentially serve five years for that, given his record, is laughable.
“It is the lack of honestly and transparency around not just sentencing but the whole criminal justice process.
“It is certainly not designed for victims and witnesses, the people who should be at the centre of it.
“That is why giving victims proper rights would be one of the first acts of the Scottish Conservatives.”
Findlay is clear that he also stands against Scottish independence and what he believes is an increasingly “hardcore” nationalist movement.
He added: “As a journalist you keep your trap shut, you don’t express political views, which is proper. But I was conscious of and increasingly worried about the country’s direction of travel.
“There is a sense in some quarters that separation is inevitable. I think it would be a terrible mistake. There is a serious and severe culture of intolerance which the SNP has been stoking.
“Parliament has been completely
disrespected and obstructed by the SNP in recent years, culminating in the farce of the Salmond inquiry.
“I think the Scottish Conservatives are capable of taking on the SNP and I want to be part of that.”
