A violent turf war for control of Scotland’s motorcycle clubs was behind a hammer attack that left victims needing airlifted to hospital.
Sources fear a series of tit-for-tat incidents between the Blue Angels and Nomads will result in someone dying as the rivals battle for supremacy in the country’s north-east.
Glasgow-based Blue Angels have tried to get a foothold in Aberdeenshire after taking over the smaller Road Mutts and Tribe clubs in the last four years.
The latest twist in the power struggle was laid bare at the High Court in Edinburgh last week when Blue Angels member Ian Ewing was jailed for seven years for attempting to murder Nomad rival Colin Sutherland.
Ewing, 44, was part of a group of Blue Angels who used a car to knock Sutherland and three other Nomads off their motorcycles and attack them with weapons including hammers and baseball bats.
Fellow bikers John Sutherland, Nicky Syratt and Edward Forrest were also taken to hospital by a Coastguard helicopter after the ambush in Cullen, Banffshire, in September 2018.
Sources say the attack was revenge for members of the Blue Angels being assaulted earlier that day.
The clubs have been involved in a string of violent attacks, which included Alistair Thompson, a senior figure within the Nomads, being convicted of a metal bar attack on two Blue Angels bikers at a petrol station in 2014.
He was ordered by a sheriff to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work for the assault.
It is understood the feud is partly over the organisation of motorcycle festivals, which can attract thousands of bike enthusiasts and generate thousands of pounds.
A source close to the Nomads said: “The Blue Angels want to control the north-east but they’ve never managed to get into Aberdeen.
“They’ve bullied other smaller clubs into joining them and they come up in massive numbers to try to intimidate other bikers.”
Talking about the 2018 attack, the source said: “They used cars to run them off the road. Then they used baseball bats and hit them when they were trapped under their bikes.
“It’s obvious Ewing was trying to murder someone. This is about power and control and the
Blue Angels think they can have all of it.”
A Blue Angels source said: “The Nomads didn’t like smaller bike clubs deciding to join the Blue Angels. They have been attacking bikers they think are members of the Blue Angels to try to maintain a presence.”
The Blue Angels were formed in Glasgow’s Maryhill in 1963. The club has chapters in Europe, including in Spain and Belgium.
Boss Allan Morrison died from lung disease COPD in January.
The Nomads started in Aberdeen in 1966 and are considered the biggest motorcycle club in the north of Scotland.
Tensions between the rivals have been simmering for almost 20 years after a fight between members outside a pub in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire.
An insider said: “Things went quiet for a long period but they’ve really flared up again over the last few years.
“The way things are going someone will end up dead.”
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Source: Daily Record