Scottish Conservative leadership candidate Russell Findlay has been warned by Police Scotland about a death threat against him.
The former journalist was the victim of an acid attack on his doorstep in 2015 following his reporting on Glasgow gangs.
William Burns was sentenced to 10 years in prison having disguised himself as a postal worker and thrown sulphuric acid on Mr Findlay before attacking him with a knife. He has a parole hearing next week where he could potentially be released early.
Police recently visited Mr Findlay to warn him of a threat against his life by a "known criminal".
Read More:
-
Russell Findlay announces he will stand for Scottish Conservative leadership
-
Who is Russell Findlay? The ex-journalist in bid to lead Scots Tories
-
Tory MSP accuses Findlay of disrespecting party with 'premature' leadership bid
Officers have since established a link between the individual and Mr Burns.
Mr Findlay said: "Of course this has changed aspects of my life, but that’s been the case for many years now. I accept that holding powerful and dangerous people to account can come at a cost and I am therefore cautious by necessity.
“But you can't run away from threats. It does not work. You have to be defiant and stand firm for what you believe in.
"I got into politics late in life, after my career as a journalist, having seen first-hand how broken our justice system is for victims of crime.
"There is often a disconnect between what politicians in the Holyrood bubble are told is happening and what really goes on. The same applies in relation to other public services.
"I believe there should be full transparency around parole and sentencing. That doesn't appear controversial to me. It seems like common-sense.
"I'm not going to let gangland threats stop me from running to lead the Scottish Conservative party because I’m determined to change how things are done at Holyrood.
"I want to help fix the justice system so victims are treated with respect. And I want to make the changes needed to our public services, so they deliver effectively and efficiently for everyone who relies on them."
Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn of Police Scotland said: “We have well established relationships with elected representatives and regularly discuss security arrangements further with them."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here