COME & GET ME

Richardson associate's van blown up outside home | McGill's henchmen claim responsibility for attack

- JOHN-PAUL CLARK and RYAN CARROLL

A PAL of mob boss Mark Richardson was targeted for the third time in a firebomb attack after he taunted henchmen working for Dubai-based gangster Ross McGill.

A Transit van linked to Richardson's associate Paddy Beatson was blown up outside his home on Niddrie, Edinburgh, in the early hours of Monday.

Just days earlier, Beatson, 38, mocked McGill's enforcers - a faceless gang called Tamo Junto (TMJ) - online, urging them to "come and get him".

He wrote: "I'm home, if anyone's looking for me. I've never once ran. I've never even left my bit, other than to take my boy on a holiday.

"If anyone wants it with me today, get on me.

"I won't be roped into a slag-ging match or arguments with fake accounts. I don't do that."

The Ford van at Beatson's home was torched at about 4am on Monday. Half a mile away - and at the same time - a Range Rover believed to be owned by another associate of Richardson's was firebombed.

Police are treating both incidents as suspicious. Images taken in the aftermath show the burnt out shells of both vehicles.

TMJ were quick to claim responsibility in a video sent to the Record. Footage shared by the gang shows flames bursting out of the Range Rover and van.

In one clip, a hooded figure stands with an accelerant canister before he backs away from the fireball.