A grandson of crime clan matriarch Big Mags Haney has been jailed for a “sadistic” attack with a machete and an imitation firearm on a man he wrongly believed had raped his sister.
Angus Cowan, 29, “carefully planned revenge” on his 23-year-old victim after his sister provided information to him that turned out to be “lies”, a court was told.
Attack in woodland park
He arranged for the victim to pick him up from an address in Tillicoultry and drive to a secluded woodland park on December 4, 2024. When they got there, Cowan pulled out an imitation shotgun and hit him in the face with it, saying “you know you’re f*****”.
He held up a photograph of his sister sitting with the victim before launching the attack. Prosecutor Jennifer Bairner said: “Mr Cowan then grabbed him by the throat, pushed him back to the car and told him to get inside. Whilst doing so he bit his right ear.”
“Mr Cowan then put the shotgun into the rear of the vehicle. At this point Mr Cowan was recording using his mobile phone and had a silver machete in his hand. Mr Cowan then got into the front passenger seat and began to hit [the man's] arm with the blunt edge of the machete.”
Threats and escape
Cowan also threatened to gouge the man's eyes out, and said: “That’s what happens when people go near my wee sister”. He then ordered the man to drive back to Tillicoultry, where the victim escaped and called police. Cowan was arrested later.
Cowan had been released from HMP Edinburgh only weeks before the attack on October 31, 2024. He was jailed for four and a half years at the High Court in Stirling after pleading guilty last month.
His victim was left with a laceration to his right earlobe, deep cuts to his head, a cut to his hand and a bleeding nose. The court heard footage recorded by Cowan was posted by someone later on Facebook.
Sentencing and background
Ms Bairner said: “Mr Cowan is in possession of a machete which he shows to the camera. He shouts into the camera: ‘This is what I dae tae c**** that go near my f****** sister. Chop chop chop chop ya f****** bam. That’s him just been chopped f*** oot ae'.”
Cowan's DNA was found in the victim's ear. The firearm was later discovered to be an airsoft shotgun firing plastic ball bearings.
Advocate Gail Gianni, defending, said Cowan had “sought out” the victim after his sister had told him the victim had raped her. Ms Gianni said: “The position is that his sister lied to him and [the victim] is entirely innocent of these allegations.” Ms Gianni said Cowan “deeply regretted” what he had done, and for the damage to the victim's reputation.
Judge Jennifer Bain KC told Cowan he had committed a “brazen” and “carefully pre-planned attack”, compounded by the video. She said: “The video showed you shouting gloating remarks about what you had done. You expressed pride in relation to the commission of this offence, convinced in the aftermath that you had done the right thing. It is only now you accept that your victim was entirely innocent that you have expressed regret at the reputational damage that you caused him.”
Judge Bain told Cowan a background report “accurately describes your actions as purposeful and sadistic”. She said his record – 33 convictions since age 16 – demonstrated “an entrenched pattern of committing acts of serious violence”.
In addition to his custodial sentence, he was given a two year extension, during which time he can be recalled to prison if he reoffends.
Big Mags Haney, who died in 2013, set herself up as an anti-paedophile campaigner in Stirling's Raploch district in the early 1990s. She also ran a heroin empire, and was eventually jailed for 12 years. She had 11 children, most of whom led lives of crime.
Cowan is the son of her youngest daughter, Stella, who was jailed for three-and-a-half years when he was four, having been caught at Mags' flat in Stirling's Lower Bridge Street – the so-called Haney Hotel – with £1,500 pounds worth of heroin in her underwear.
