Carrying a knife leads to only two places... jail or the grave

Scarred ... Ian MacDonald needed 42 stitches in face after knife thugs cut him up

He was a brutal blade-wielding enforcer for feared Glasgow crime godfather Arthur Thompson.

The scar-faced former hood carved, slashed and stabbed his way through rivals during his career as one of the country’s most terrifying villains.

But last night the reformed hardman BACKED Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland crackdown on Scotland’s blade scourge and told youngsters to ditch their lethal weapons.

And the 50-year-old confessed to being left “stunned” by knife attackers who battered him and ripped open his face two years ago as he walked his dog, Lucky.

The gravel-voiced Glaswegian said: “In this day and age, carrying a knife leads to only two things — prison or the grave.

“And it is always the families that are left suffering.”

For decades MacDonald was one of the most feared crooks in Glasgow and beyond.

 

Arthur Thompson ... crime king used thug MacDonald as a brutal enforcer in his empire

 

In 1993, he was sentenced to 16 years behind bars for his part in a foiled £6million bank raid.

The verdict at London’s Old Bailey was delivered amid a ring of steel.

An earlier trial was aborted because of fears an escape plot had been hatched. This came after sinister death threats were delivered to barristers and the trial judge.

Then just three years ago he survived a car bomb plot and a slashing.

MacDonald carved out his reputation for violence from the age of 20 when he was a small-time thief who targeted jewellers’ shops.

His talents as a brutal thug were quickly spotted by Glasgow crime kingpin Thompson — a close associate of fearsome London gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray.

MacDonald said: “My main career at that time was robbing jewellery shops but Arthur came to me because he knew I was building a reputation for violence.

“To me, it was really just another sideline.

“But I did eventually start turning Thompson down — because I did not want to be running around carving people up while he sat in his armchair with his feet up, drinking brandy and watching Minder on the telly.”

 

'Blink' MacDonald ... bank robber enjoyed high life as a young man thanks to his heists

 

MacDonald was making a mint as a prolific robber but he was so in love with blades he carried on dishing out horrifying knife attacks — purely for thrills and revenge.

He admitted: “Back in 1981, there was a guy who broke into the home of my pal’s dad in Blantyre and doused it in petrol while the family were sleeping. It was all to do with a feud.

“Not long after, my pal and I were in a nightclub and we spotted this guy.

“I waited for him outside the toilet and then followed him on to the dancefloor.

“I took the face clean off him. I did not stop to wait around and see the damage. I ran. I was really young at the time, just 20. To tell you the truth, it was quite exciting.”

And he kept up his reign of knife terror even while banged up. The following year, MacDonald was serving a prison term at tough Barlinnie nick in Glasgow when he was asked to “sort out” a fellow lag who was hassling a pal.

He said: “My preferred weapon of choice was a razor blade soldered on to a toothbrush.

“I just grabbed him and slashed him across the face.

 

The Kray Twins ... Thompson and MacDonald had links to the terrifying brothers

 

“I never went for the neck as I did not want to kill anyone — just mark them for life.

“My pal later said he was very grateful — but that he had only meant for me to punch the guy.”

But two years ago the tables were turned as MacDonald — who’s penning a book about his life of crime — was targeted by a gang of blade-wielding thugs who went for his THROAT.

He was walking his pet dog in the East End of Glasgow when he was jumped from behind by three tooled-up attackers.

They battered MacDonald on the back of the head as he lay helpless on the ground — then used a blade to open up his left cheek.

MacDonald needed 42 stitches to heal the gaping facial wound.

Speaking of the horror attack he said: “They got me on the face but they were going for my throat. But I am not a hypocrite. I had given it out and I got it back.

“At the age of 48, after carrying a blade around for 30 years, I was slashed — and I am still stunned.” MacDonald no longer carries a weapon — and last night he called on the country’s youths to do the same and put down their blades for good as the horror toll of Scots knife crime mounts.

The dad-of-one said: “The younger ones today are far more mental with knives than I ever was.

“But they should realise that if you are prepared to use a knife on someone, then you should be prepared to get it back — and no one is invincible.

“I mean, if you are carrying a knife it is not a bloody ornament — you are going to use it.

“The best course of action is just not to carry one at all.”