A vicious thug who attempted to shoot another man three times is now facing the possibility of life behind bars.

Lee Connors, 30, tried to fire the gun at Grant MacBeth three times but the gun failed.

He attacked MacBeth outside the home of their mutual friend Kimberley Dow on October 25, 2014.

Dow, 23, testified that Connors had contacted her claiming he feared for his life.

But when he brought a loaded gun into her house and asked her to look after it for him, she refused.

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She told the court, "I know what he was like. He would have phoned the police and told them it was my gun."

“I was always on edge when I was around him. I was scared."

Experts in the trial confirmed the gun, a Ruger Security Six revolver, had six bullets in it.

But the gun was unreliable, and didn't work although it could have fired bullets - saving Grant MacBeth's life.

Lord Ericht, imposing the lifelong order on Connors at the High Court in Edinburgh said it was "mere luck" the gun did not go off.

Connors will serve for a minimum of four years and two months, but could spend the rest of his life in prison for the crime because he is classified as a 'high risk' offender, and can only be released if that  classification changes.

His girlfriend, Emma Cameron, 22, was given 160 hours of unpaid work for giving misleading evidence at the attempted murder trial.

Girlfriend . . . Emma Cameron

Cameron was previously involved with Celtic footie ace Leigh Griffiths, and had a child with him.

Connors is also suspected of ties to the Hendry crime family in Edinburgh. He is thought to have been involved in a September 2014 attack when a woman's car was blasted with a shotgun, and a fake bomb was left outside her door.

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