9:14 am, July 15, 2021
A getaway driver is facing jail after he was found guilty of the attempted murder of a Scottish car dealer for the second time.
Don Templeton, 40, was involved attempting to assassinate 45-year-old dealer James McGurk in Bridge of Weir, in the Lowlands of Scotland.
Convicted killer John Docherty, 49, blasted the unsuspecting victim from behind with a shotgun but failed to end his life, the Daily Record reports.
Both men were found guilty of attempted murder in 2019 with Templeton sentenced to eight years behind bars for the crime.
However, his conviction was later quashed due to a ‘legal issue’ and the case was sent to retrial.
He was now been convicted once again and will be sentenced next month.
The court heard that the McGurk, who works at a dealership in Renfrewshire, had been friends with Templeton for many years prior to the shooting.
In the days leading up to the event, in October 2017, the pair tried to call each other around ten times.
The victim, who does not remember the attack, said the calls had been about a car.
Prosecutor Kath Harper asked him: ‘What were the frantic calls about?”
McGurk replied: ‘About a car or something like that.’
Harper followed up with: ‘Was there a dispute with Don?’
McGurk replied: No, we got on alright. I would not say we were at each other’s throats.
‘We have only been pals.’
McGurk was shot on the right buttock with shotgun pellets and CCTV footage submitted in evidence showed him staggering for help at a nearby farmhouse.
He told the court that the next thing he remembered was waking up in hospital covered in blood.
Templeton was warned at court that he now faces another significant sentence.
Judge Alistair Watson told him: ‘It is inevitable that you will face a significant sentence once more.’
The case was adjourned for reports to be produced.
Docherty – who pulled the trigger – murdered a pensioner in 1995 and was out on licence at the time.
He was jailed for 12 years in 2019 for his role in the attack.
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