Dan Laponder, founder and former president of the Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club, has become a notorious figure in the biker world, his journey taking him from a small YouTube channel to a prison cell. He was a leading figure when the gang broke away from Blue Angels, Scotland's oldest motorbike outlaw gang, in 2023, sparking a violent feud that continues today.
Background and rise in the gang
Laponder, now 45, was originally a member of the Blue Angels and rose to prominence within the gang. His younger brother David followed a similar path, becoming a member of the Sons of Hell biker gang in Tameside. In November 2020, David was sentenced to nine years in prison after attacking Daniel Gibbons, the president of the Warrington branch, with a meat cleaver eight times in a frenzied assault.
In February 2023, Laponder started a YouTube channel called "easy entry locksmith," described as "a record of my locksmith training." The videos, including "drilling a yale lock" and "practice opening a car with non destructive entry kit," showed him testing his skills. He barely spoke in the videos, which were published between April and November 2023, around the time he led the split from the Blue Angels.
The split and the feud
The exact reason for the break is unknown, but Laponder took a group of bikers with him to found the Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club. His YouTube channel, with 24 videos, has garnered 22,200 views and 51 subscribers. In May 2024, he thanked killer John Bingham for a "very generous financial contribution" to the club. Bingham, cleared of murder after admitting stabbing Alister Milroy to death in 2013, had also been involved in a road rage incident.
The separation led to a brutal war between the two gangs, resulting in serious injuries, fire attacks, and even a pipe bomb plot. Violent confrontations have injured several bikers, including former Mad Dogs president Mark "Bruni" Brown, who was forced to step away from the gang.
The pipe bomb plot and sentencing
Laponder's part in the feud landed him in jail after he was sentenced in November 2024. The then 43-year-old targeted David Rollo senior's work van outside his home in Lennoxtown on June 8 that year. Rollo's son is a member of the Blue Angels. An off-duty firefighter spotted the van on fire and observed a pipe bomb underneath, made from bottles, a copper pipe, and an RF receiver with an antenna. The bomb squad defused the device, which contained petrol and ball bearings with a remote activation.
DNA and fingerprints linked Laponder to the bomb. When police attended his home on July 3, they found a loaded side-by-side, double-barrel, break-action shotgun. In an interview, Laponder said: "I'm not a Blue Angel anymore, I retired a year ago." Asked about the bomb, he replied: "Link the dots, we've been getting attacked all the time. What is a remote detonator? It goes off with a remote, perhaps it was a shot across the bow."
A garage linked to the Mad Dogs was raided, and two remote firing systems similar to the one used in the attack were recovered. Laponder pleaded guilty on October 15, 2024, to wilful fire raising and a charge under the Firearms Act 1968. He was sentenced to nine years behind bars the following month and is incarcerated at HMP Greenock.
Life in prison and future plans
Despite his convictions, Laponder recently claimed his "window" for a low-security transfer is just months away. If so, he would be moved to HMP Castle Huntly near Dundee, a low-supervision facility on a 15th-century castle estate that allows low-risk inmates more freedom to prepare for release.
In a social media post from his cell, Laponder boasted about his easy life behind bars, revealing he has written a tell-all book, recorded an acoustic album, and been given a job mentoring new inmates. He said: "My window to go to open prison is in six months, so that is my focus... I'll be back on top soon enough."
He added: "Well it's coming up on two years I've been in prison. Time has gone by quite fast, probably because I have kept myself busy. Sooooooo what have we achieved in prison? I'm competent now on the guitar and I'm getting better by the day. I've written two books, one is a tutorial on how I taught myself guitar and the other is a short story of how I came to be in here, I thought people would be interested to hear the truth. I've got some poems down but most of my folders are full of scripts for a social media channel idea I have."
"Talking about ideas I've got some inventions to patent when I get out. Last year I won an award for a painting I done but I've not been painting much I've got five of my own hanging up in my cell, them and some pics of Razor Candy, I started learning Spanish and Sign Language. I'm still finding time to smash the gym no one has knocked me off the board yet. The jail made me peer mentor so when new prisoners come in I show them around and tell them how everything works. I do miss my wee man terribly though. My window to go to open prison is in 6 months so that is my focus so I can get home to see him."
"Home? I have no home! I need to start all over again. I ain't got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, mans got skills though I'll be back on top soon enough. Hey - I can always go busking now, anyway hasta luigo for now."
