An underworld figure, who was jailed for torturing a man while holding him captive at a house in North Lanarkshire, has been injured in a prison attack.
Prison bosses have confirmed that James “Jasper” McCann was involved in an incident within HMP Shotts yesterday.
McCann, 50, from the east end of Glasgow, was jailed for eight years in the summer of 2019 after he, his brother Stephen McCann, 40, and their accomplice Greg Bannerman, 54, were convicted of holding Paul Connor captive at a property in Airdrie, and terrorising and torturing him.
Their victim was stripped, bound and threatened with a syringe containing what he understood was a lethal dose of heroin, he was hit with a hammer and choked with a cable in an ordeal that lasted for hours. He finally managed to escape his captors by jumping out of a window.
The victim knew his assailants and the attack was over a dispute about a compensation cheque from a crash after he sustained injuries while in Robert McCann’s vehicle.
While Jasper was handed an eight-year sentence, his brother was given seven years and Bannerman was sentenced to four years for his part.
While McCann is said to have suffered head injuries in yesterday's attack, he was not hospitalised as a result, despite a source saying he had been “slashed and battered with a pool cue”.
A prison insider told the Daily Record that the attack came after McCann, who was recently moved from Barlinnie, made threats towards another Glasgow crime family.
The source told our sister paper: “Jasper came to Shotts at the start of the week and said he was there ‘to do’ anyone connected to the Lyons family.
“He was attacked within 48 hours of arriving.”
The Scottish Prison Service has confirmed that an incident took place.
Robert McCann survived an attempt on his life in September 2018 when he was shot in the head while at a friend’s house in Shettleston. Michael Fratti, who was accused of the shooting, walked free from court after McCann said he was unable to identify his attacker.
The 25-year-old was also accused of shooting a friend of the McCanns, but he was also unable to identify his attacker. Brian McGloin was shot three times and slashed on the face while within his home in Wellshot Road in the same area of the east end the month after Robert McCann was shot. The court heard two armed men had entered his flat looking for Jasper McCann.
