The Glasgow Crime Story of the Drumchapel man on the run for 8 years

On another occasion he tried to gouge out a prison officer’s eye with his thumb.

It was said at least four officers in protective kit were needed every time his cell door was opened.

Now Drumchapel man Jonathan Kelly is one of the most wanted men in Europe having been on the run for more than eight years.

Kelly was released from Low Moss Prison, near Glasgow, in August 2014, with 32 strict conditions attached, including submitting himself to regular drug tests, and meetings with the police and social workers.

However, by the following month he had failed one drug test, went on the run and hasn’t been seen since.

Kelly knew he was facing another 10 years behind bars for failing the drug test and breaching his parole conditions with no further release until 2024 at the earliest. With the police about to knock on his door, he cut off his electronic tag and fled.

Since his disappearance that September there hasn’t been a single sighting of him with his bank account lying untouched.

Despite a string of public appeals for information, a BBC Crimewatch special on the case, and the offer of a £5000 reward, the police appear to be no closer to catching him.

So, who is Jonathan Kelly?

He had been jailed in 2002 for eight years for the machete attack in Glasgow that left his victim paralysed.

While in jail, he was charged with at least nine other crimes, including attacks on prisoners and prison officers, which added 16 years to his original sentence.

The offences he was convicted of included an assault to severe injury and danger of life, robbery, assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, breach of the peace and having a sharply pointed implement in prison.

In total Kelly faced seven High Court trials between 2002 and the year of his disappearance.

He had also been cleared, shortly before his release, of nine historical rape and abduction charges.

The attacks were alleged to have taken place between 1998 and 2002 in a house in the city’s East End.

In the weeks after his disappearance police enquiries took them all over the UK and to Ireland.

Kelly had worked in Dublin as a scaffolder and had family connections there.

He also has an uncle in London, and Scotland Yard made inquiries in Croydon and Clapham, where he lived as a teenager.

Kelly had also previously boasted of attacking gay people while a member of the notorious Chelsea Headhunters football hooligan gang.

Forces in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands also carried out searches for Kelly on behalf of Police Scotland.

More information was made public on the missing man as police drew a blank in their investigation.

They said he used aliases such as Donald Cameron, Jon Kerr and Jonathon Donnelly and had possibly grown a beard and shaved his head.

He also had scars on his face, arms and right hand, was heavily built at 5ft 10in with blue grey eyes. A dedicated firearms unit was rumoured to be on standby in the immediate days after Kelly’s disappearance.

Police Scotland said at the time: “Unfortunately, we have had very little information from the public regarding his whereabouts.

“We would advise the public not to approach Mr Kelly but to contact police immediately via 999.”

Police admitted he could be anywhere in the UK or even abroad and travelling on a false passport.

They spoke to Kelly’s mum Pauline, who lived in Cardonald, but she had had little contact with him in recent years.

His dad James Kelly was a convicted murderer but had died in 2012.

His stepmother Margaret Crilley, then 66, who lived in Baillieston, was also quizzed but was none the wiser as to his whereabouts.

In one newspaper interview in December 2014, she said Kelly would never give himself up.

The retired barmaid added: “It would be a waste of time because he knows he is looking at 10 years back in prison.

“He’s not had a chance of life yet. He’s thinking ‘I’m not going back there for nothing’. Margaret had married Kelly’s killer dad in 1994. They divorced 10 years later.

She insisted she has not seen or heard from Kelly since he vanished.

Despite his horrific record, she said: “Jonathan has been hounded by the police since he got out of prison. When he got out he told me the police wouldn’t leave him alone and they were determined to get him back in.

“He’d just had enough basically.

“All Jonathan has done is cut a tag off and he is being treated like a mass murderer. Other people cut their tags off and get a rap on the knuckles.

“There are paedophiles and murderers who have not been treated the way Jonathan has.”

In October, a month after he went missing, police got a tip-off that Kelly was using a safe house in Govanhill, Glasgow.

Armed officers raided the tenement flat but found it empty but later admitted they couldn’t be sure Kelly was ever there.

There was also a later tip that he was hiding in a hostel in Dublin and claiming benefits.

A search was conducted but there was no sign of the offender.

While on the run disturbing details emerged about his time behind bars and potential danger to the public.

One prison file had warned: “Kelly has continually made threats to assault, maim or kill a member of staff at the first opportunity. Prison management is taking these threats seriously.”

It was at Glenochil, near Alloa, the thug gouged a prison officer in the eye with his thumb while trying to stab him with a plastic fork. He launched a similar attack while held at HMP Kilmarnock.

And at HMP Saughton in Edinburgh, he had ambushed two officers with a toothbrush which had been sharpened into a weapon.

His file from that prison said: “May present a great risk. Extreme caution advised when dealing with this prisoner.”

In a further report an officer described how Kelly, who spent much of his sentence in segregation, attempted to smash his way out of Perth jail using a microwave.

The warder said: “I was alerted by a loud banging coming from the prisoner area. The prisoner was attempting to smash his way through the windows. He had shattered one of them by this time.”

After joining a team tackling the thug, the officer added: “Mr Kelly shouted abuse at me and spat in my direction.

“Six glass panels, one microwave oven, one payphone and one hot water boiler were destroyed.”

It was also revealed that while in prison Kelly had written to miscarriages of justice campaign group to brag about his life of violence.

In one letter he boasted: “While on remand in Barlinnie, I told screws not to put another con in my cell or I would be forced to hurt him. After a couple of hours, I repeatedly slashed and stabbed him. If it hadn’t been for night staff, he would have died.”

Kelly got five years for that assault and was moved to Kilmarnock jail, where he says he “lasted only three or four months before assaulting two prisoners”.

He then attacked three warders in three days and was moved to Perth, where he staged a dirty protest and assaulted officers “at any opportunity I got”.

Kelly claimed he had also attacked staff at Shotts, Barlinnie and Addiewell jails and bragged: “Seven High Court trials, but only three convictions.”

Over the years there have been alleged sightings of Kelly across Britain and Ireland but none have been genuine.

Detectives believe he was initially shielded in Edinburgh by associates of a well-known drug baron before heading to Spain’s Costa del Sol.

It is likely he has been supported by criminal associates who have given him shelter and provided financial assistance.

Kelly remains on the National Crime Agency’s Most Wanted List, where he is described as extremely violent and posing a high risk to both police and members of the public.

Police Scotland says it is also still committed to finding Kelly and appealed to anyone with information to contact them.

Detective Inspector Sarah-Jane Finnigan added: “He remains unlawfully at large from when he was last seen following his release from Low Moss Prison and his licence revoked after he failed to comply with imposed conditions.

“Police Scotland officers will continue to follow up on any new information and potential sightings of him.”

One underworld figure told the Glasgow Times: “To stay hidden for almost nine years isn’t easily done.

“Kelly has been well looked after and protected.

“He knows if he’s caught, he’s going back to jail for a long time, so he’s not going to give up his freedom any time soon.”