POLICE investigating the murder of a man who was attacked with his mother after an altercation in the street are searching for a former boxer.
Darren Johnstone, 31, has gone missing and Police Scotland said they were looking for him in connection with their inquiries into the death of James Baillie in Hamilton on July 23.
Mr Baillie, 41, died in Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, three days after he and his 64-year-old mother were involved in a dispute with a group of people in Hamilton.
Mr Baillie, from Buchanan Crescent in Hamilton, suffered a serious head injury. His mother Edith suffered injuries to her head and an arm but she was released from hospital after treatment.
Police Scotland have appealed for information to help track down Johnstone, who is from Larkhall. They urged members of the public not to approach him but to contact police officers if they saw the 31-year-old.
In 2008, Johnstone was barred from 10 pubs in Larkhall after a series of allegations were made against the former boxer.
He has also previously been convicted of assaulting his former partner, attacking police and resisting arrest.
Johnstone is 5ft 9in, of athletic build and brown hair. He has a tattoo with the letters DJ on the left side of his neck.
Mr Baillie and his mother were attacked just yards from her home. After the incident on July 23, police initially launched an attempted murder investigation, carrying out door-to-door enquiries and making several appeals for information about the attack.
Following Mr Baillie's death, the inquiry became a murder investigation.
Police Scotland said that Johnstone's whereabouts "are unknown".
A spokesman added: "Darren Johnstone, 31, from Larkhall in South Lanarkshire is currently being sought by Police Scotland in connection with their inquiries into the murder of James Baillie in Hamilton on 23 July 2013.
"Anyone who recognises Mr Johnstone is asked not to approach him, but to contact the police."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article