A MAN who was once banned from living in Johnstone after carrying out a violent attack on a rival was this week cleared of abducting a man and torturing him in an abandoned mansion over an unpaid cocaine debt.

Brian Smart, 61, denied bundling Paul Markie, 27, into a transit van, driving him to the remote derelict building, detaining him against his will and assaulting him.

Smart - who was banned from living in Johnstone in 2014 following a violent assault on Steven McDougall in Canal Street - was said to have tortured Markie because he owed his son, alleged drug dealer Allan Barbour, £800 for cocaine.

Smart and Barbour, 26, were on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court accused of committing the offence on Thursday, November 19 last year.

But the father and son walked free from court after a sheriff ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict them.

Markie told the jury he owed Barbour just under £800 for cocaine he had bought from him to feed his £60-a-day habit.

He said he was scared as Smart, who was driving, and Barbour took him from his home in Johnstone to Caldwell House, which is between the villages of Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire, and Lugton, East Ayrshire.

Once at Caldwell House he said Smart put cable ties round his wrists, took him out of the van and led him in to the entrance hall of the secluded building.

He said they then took him down to the basement where he had his arms bound behind his back round a pillar, his feet tied and his mouth gagged.

He told the court Barbour rained punches on him as Smart tried to bind him and that once he was attached to the pillar they took off and left him there.

He explained: “They said to me in the van, ‘you’re going to be black and blue’.

“They tied me up with ropes and cable ties, my wrists were covered in blood.

“It was pitch black and they were threatening me and demanding money for drugs they had given me.”

Markie said he managed to break free and make his escape, flagging down a passing motorist who called 999.

And, when PC Ian Winton and colleague PC Susan Gibson arrived at the scene, the officers spotted Markie running through a field towards them with tape and rope still around his neck and ankle.

As nobody witnessed Markie being led from his house, put into the van or assaulted at Caldwell House, Procurator Fiscal Depute Kerry Marshall was relying on forensic evidence to prove her case.

Police claimed to have found Smart’s DNA on blue tape which was found around Markie’s neck, while tyre tracks from his transit van were said to have been found next to the abandoned building.

But Smart’s solicitor, Gordon Ritchie, and Barbour’s lawyer, solicitor advocate Chris McKenna, successfully argued the forensic evidence should not be aired before a jury.

The ruling meant the evidence was not allowed to be led in the trial and, without it, there was not enough evidence to prove Smart and Barbour had abducted and assaulted Markie.

This prompted Mr Ritchie and Mr McKenna to make no case to answer submissions in respect of their clients.

Sheriff David Pender upheld the submissions and told Smart and Barbour, who also denied a charge of being a cocaine dealer, they had been found not guilty and were free to leave court.