Police recover gun from Edinburgh's Roseburn Path in gang feud probe
Police have recovered a firearm from a footpath in Edinburgh thought to be linked to an outbreak of gang violence.Officers cordoned off a large section of Roseburn Path on Friday following the discovery of the weapon as part of Operation Portaledge.A feud between rival criminal gangs in Edinburgh and Glasgow has escalated with firebomb attacks and physical violence in recent months.Det Ch Supt David Ferry, of Police Scotland's specialist crime division, said "extensive inquiries" were ongoing.
The area, which is regularly used by cyclists and walkers, remains closed off between Roseburn Terrace and Ravelston Dykes.It is also earmarked to be the route for an extension to Edinburgh's tram line.
Police said they had now recovered "a number of weapons" in connection with the investigation.Officers began investigating a feud between rival groups in the east and west of the country earlier this year following a series of incidents.A total of 42 people have been arrested as part of the operation as of last week, according to the force.Several vehicles were set alight in suspected targeted attacks in the Niddrie area, where the feud initially started, on Monday.Det Ch Supt Ferry said: "I hope this latest find helps to reassure the community of our continued resolve to target organised crime."Extensive inquiries are ongoing and I urge anyone who knows something that could assist with our investigation to please contact to us."
Timeline of the feud
2 March: The unrest first breaks out when a car is set on fire in the Parrotshot area of Edinburgh.6 March: A beauty salon in Edinburgh is the first building to be hit after it was set alight in the early hours of the morning.16 March: A property in Milton Road East, Portobello was next to be set on fire.20 and 21 March: Reports of shots being fired in Marischal Crescent, Niddrie. Five hours later, shots were also fired in West Pilton Bank, Edinburgh. Police confirmed the incidents were thought to be "linked to groups who are actively targeting each other".3 April: Local officers carried out raids on five houses in Edinburgh and Musselburgh alongside Police Scotland's specialist organised crime team. A number of items relevant to the investigation were seized including weapons, drugs and cash. Two men were arrested and charged with drugs offences.4 April: A house on Hay Drive, in the Niddrie area, was targeted at about 01:20. The blaze quickly spread to a neighbouring property and both were badly damaged. Later that day detectives, supported by firearms officers, executed two additional firearms search warrants in the Leith area of Edinburgh.
Violence moves west
3 April: A house was deliberately set on fire more than 50 miles away in Cortmalaw Gardens, in the Robroyston area of Glasgow.4 April: A premises in Milton Road, Kirkintilloch is next to be targeted.7 April: Three homes are targeted within hours of each other. Properties in Gala Street Street and Ashgill Road, Glasgow, and Meadow Court, Stepps, were all set alight in the early hours.8 April: A fire at a carpet business in Bishopbriggs is the latest business to be hit.12 April: The feud turns violent after a 72-year-old and a 12-year-old are seriously assaulted at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Milton shortly after midnight.14 April: Police Scotland confirm they were called to two fires in Bishopbriggs - one in Colston Drive and one in John Marshall Drive, both at about 12:50. Investigations over whether these fires are linked to the feud are still taking place.17 April: The feud appears to return to the capital after a house in Pitcairn Grove in the Craiglockhart area of Edinburgh is hit. Two fire engines and a height appliance were sent to the scene at about 01:45 to extinguish the flames. Police Scotland said they were considering the attack was linked to the other incidents.
Spanish shootings
1 June: Two men with gangland connections, Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr, are shot dead at a bar in Spain. Police have said there is no evidence to suggest a link to the feud in Scotland.On the same night, a large property in Bridge of Weir is firebombed.6 June: Police confirm a total of 42 people have been arrested during investigations into the feud, which is given then name Operation Portaledge.More than 8,000 homes have been visited and over 1,600 vehicles stopped as part of the current investigation.9 June: A full circle moment as the police are called to a property on Niddrie Marischal Crescent at 03:55 after a Ford Transit van went up in flames.Five minutes later a Range Rover Evoque was found alight about half a mile away on Campion Road, and the vehicle was also destroyed by fire.11 June: Police recover firearm believed to be linked to violence from Roseburn Path in Edinburgh.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Nepo baby influencer sobs as she pleads GUILTY to being three-and-a-half times drink-drive limit
NEPO baby influencer Gabriella Bardsley sobbed as she pleaded guilty to drink-driving today. The stunning brunette, 23, daughter of Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley, admitted being three-and-a-half times the alcohol limit. 10 Gabriella, whose stepdad is ex-Manchester United footballer Phil Bardsley, was arrested on May 11 behind the wheel of her Audi A3. Crewe Magistrates' Court was told how she approached the scene of a road traffic collision in Wilmslow and 'attempted to drive through the police blockade'. Charlie Hayward, prosecuting, said when officers approached her she was visibly intoxicated and 'slurring her words' and 'struggling' to stand on her feet. She refused a road-side breath test and was taken to a nearby police station and was found to have 122 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - the UK legal limit being only 35 micrograms. The influencer, who stood in the dock in a black jacket and white trousers, pleaded guilty when the charge of drink-driving was put to her. Her lawyer Gary Hughes told the court that she was of 'hitherto good character'. But they handed her an interim driving ban and she sobbed as she left court, comforted by her former Sunderland defender father. Gabriella could face an unlimited fine and/or disqualification from driving when she's sentenced on July 14. The influencer appears on ITVX series The Bardsley Bunch alongside her famous parents and younger brothers Rocco, Renz and Ralphi. Her stepdad Phil began his career at Man Utd before joining Sunderland in 2008. He also played for the Scottish national team before hanging up his boots for good in 2023. 10 10 10 10 10
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Woman who phoned 999 and told operator her husband had killed himself is found guilty of murder
A woman who overpowered her husband and attacked him before telling a 999 operator he had taken his own life has been found guilty of his murder. Amy Pugh, 34, told a jury at Stafford Crown Court that she had found her husband hanging when she opened the back door of her family home in Newport, Shropshire, on the evening of March 22, 2022. Kyle Pugh, 30, had suffered compression to the neck and fractures to the structure of the neck, as well as a fractured nose and eye socket and died at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford surrounded by his family on March 23, 2022. Pugh, who wore a white top and black suit, put her hands to her mouth in the dock after the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder on Thursday after more than 11 hours of deliberations. The court heard Pugh had called her father before dialling 999 20 minutes after 'gaining the upper hand' over her husband, from whom she was separated, in a fight in the kitchen and attacking him. She told the emergency call handler her husband had taken his own life and could be heard saying: 'Kyle, wake up, why have you done this.' Mr Pugh had been in a new relationship with another woman but was at the family home in Aston Drive, to visit his children on the night of the incident. While they were initially in the kitchen listening to music, Pugh told the court she had 'lost composure' after finding out her estranged husband's new partner may be pregnant and they had an argument. She had claimed her husband had left the house and she later opened the back door to let the dog into the garden and found him hanging before dragging him inside. But prosecutor Julian Evans KC told the trial that the story was a 'complete fiction' and that Pugh had inflicted the injuries on her husband herself. The court heard the two had a 'volatile, turbulent and abusive' relationship which would involve physical violence to each other and was often fuelled by drink or drugs. Mr Evans said Pugh was aware her husband had 'vulnerabilities', had a history of self-harm and had made previous suicide attempts and had 'quite deliberately and quite callously sought to use them to her own advantage'. Pugh had told the court the two were like 'lovestruck teenagers' when they first began a relationship in 2012 but the relationship became toxic, with Mr Pugh breaking her jaw and her arm in two separate incidents. The defendant said she would initially push her husband away when he hit her, but as the years went on, the violence got worse so she started to fight back. By the time of the incident, Pugh admitted they would both drink and smoke cannabis heavily. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they managed to restore Mr Pugh's pulse but he died in hospital the next day. Judge Kristina Montgomery KC thanked the jury for their work on the trial and said Pugh, of Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, would be sentenced on September 5.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Boy who met Prince and Princess of Wales and caught William's attention after asking a sweet question about Prince George killed himself after getting into trouble with police, inquest hears
A teenager who met the Prince and Princess of Wales after winning a design competition at the age of 10 has taken his own life after getting into trouble with the police, an inquest has heard. Zak Kay met the royal couple in July 2016, when they were in Portsmouth, Hampshire, to cheer on Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team. Then a pupil at St Paul's Catholic Primary School in Portsmouth, he had won the contest to design a trophy for the Portsmouth leg of the America's Cup World Series (ACWS). His winning design featured the sails of an AC45 catamaran with the star and crescent emblem of Portsmouth on it. He gained national attention after he asked William what his son George had received for his third birthday, which had been two days earlier. The Prince had replied: 'I am not telling, he got too many things, he's far too spoilt, he's not into boats yet.' An inquest into his death heard that on July 2 last year, Mr Kay, then 18, took his own life by hanging while staying at the home of a friend in Southampton. He had left a letter saying: 'I couldn't take being hurt bad again. I am sorry I couldn't get past this s**t. Sorry that I wasn't strong enough.' Coroner Jason Pegg told the Winchester hearing that he was taken to Southampton General Hospital but had suffered brain damage because of cardiac arrest caused by the hanging. He said that a decision was taken by medics on July 7 to withdraw treatment and Mr Kay died. Mr Pegg said that Mr Kay, who was diagnosed with ADHD, had been placed in foster care in July 2017, having experienced 'significant instability' and 'chaotic early years' with a 'lack of appropriate male role models'. He added: 'Whilst with foster carers, Zak could be violent towards them, leading to him having several foster care moves.' Mr Pegg told the hearing, which was not attended by any family members, that in May 2024 Mr Kay was being investigated for several alleged offences, including selling cocaine and heroin, and he had breached bail conditions. He added that Mr Kay had made a previous attempt on his life in January 2024, but had failed to respond to approaches by the adult mental health team. Recording a conclusion of suicide, Mr Pegg said: 'Zak had a chaotic and troubled childhood which resulted in Zak being cared for by various foster parents in the Portsmouth area. 'Zak's conduct towards them meant he had various moves. Zak, at the time of his passing, was being investigated for a number of alleged offences, some of which were serious.' When Mr Kay met the royal couple, his mother, Kelly, had said: 'I don't think words can explain how proud I am of Zak. 'He was hugely excited to meet Kate and I was really, really excited and proud of him. I could cry. 'He is very talented and hopefully this will help boost his confidence.'
