A dad-to-be has told how his hand was chopped off by a gangland thug with a machete, despite him having no part in a drugs war. Ryan Brown was set upon by a lone hitman wearing a balaclava and wielding a 2ft blade moments after stepping outside his front door.
The terrified labourer put up his arms to defend himself from a series of swings aimed at his head, leaving his right hand hanging off. The assailant rained savage blows on both the 28-year-old’s legs in an attempt to hack them off at the knees.
Ryan’s hand was severed in the ambush which was interrupted and his attacker fled. He underwent a 12-hour operation at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where surgeons battled to re-attach his hand.
Now Ryan, who is expecting his first child in April, will spend months in hospital for further operations and rehab, and he is currently in a wheelchair. Sources say he was targeted by henchmen linked to a well-known cocaine kingpin who has been locked in a bloody feud with a rival gangster.
Ryan told the Record: “I’m not involved in drugs, gangs or criminality and this is what happened to me.
“I feel lucky to be alive but the pain is unreal. I have nightmares every night where people chop my legs off.”
Ryan suffered the shocking injuries at about 10.10pm on January 5 in West Pilton Terrace in what police are treating as an attempted murder.
He said: “I was in my house and had just come out the shower. I looked outside and saw a Ford Focus ST sitting there and two males looking towards my house.
“I went into my cul-de-sac and the ST came flying towards me. One man jumped out wearing a balaclava. He was muscular, about 5ft 8in and walked so calmly towards me with a huge machete. It was about the length of my arm and it was down at his side.
“I said, ‘What are you doing?’ But he didn’t say anything and started hacking at me. I put my hand up to defend myself and he was hacking away.
“It struck my hand but he was going for my face. He hit me about 10 times. He was genuinely trying to kill me.
“I fell to the ground, screaming for help and he stabbed me in the hip, then started hitting my kneecaps several times. He was trying to take my legs off.
“He struck my hand another four times.”
Ryan said a neighbour came to his door, which he believes “spooked” the attacker who jumped back in the Focus which sped off alongside a VW Golf.
He said: “I looked at my hand and it seemed back to front. A friend, who’s a medic, ran over and he said, ‘Ryan, don’t look’.
“He held my hand which was hanging by a tiny bit of flesh. I was in shock.”
He added: “When the paramedics arrived, one of them was holding my hand and it came away and dropped to the ground.”
Ryan, who remains in the major trauma ward, said: “I nearly died. I needed four blood transfusions. I’ll never be able to straighten my hand again or make a fist.
“I can’t feel my fingers. It’s life-changing injuries.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever work again. They’ve ruined my life. My head is so messed up. My daughter is due in April and she’s the only thing keeping me going.
“I can’t walk just now and I’m still waiting to find out if I need surgery on my knee.”
Ryan added: “I’m in pain 24/7. I’m on oral ketamine, strong painkillers, because it’s so bad.
“I’m having to move away from my area because I’m worried I could end up getting killed.”
Ryan is waiting for a bed in a rehab facility, where he’ll remain until at least June.
Detectives said a blue Ford Focus ST was discovered burnt out at Fyles Farm, Tranent, East Lothian, on January 7, while a VW Golf was found torched at Howe Dean Path, Braid Hills, Edinburgh, on the same day.
The evening after Ryan was attacked, convicted heroin dealer Edmond Reid was confronted by a balaclava-clad man with a machete.
Reid, 36, escaped unhurt after being ambushed in Cumnor Crescent in the capital’s Inch area by man in a Mitsubishi Outlander which was later set ablaze.
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