Former boxing champion free on parole following assault

Oct 5 2008 By Norman Silvester

A GANGSTER ex-boxing champion has walked free despite a vicious attack while on parole.

Former Scottish light middleweight champ Ronnie Nailen, 27, headbutted, punched and kicked William Grant.

At the time he had been released after serving half of a five-year prison sentence for lying at a murder trial.

But parole officials told a sheriff not to bother locking him up again.

Tom Hendry, stepdad of murder victim David Ferguson, said: "Nailen could have put a man behind bars for murdering my son.

"He should have served the rest of his sentence. This was a serious case and we have been treated shabbily."

Nailen, of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, was jailed last week for eight months for the unprovoked assault.

But he was freed right away having spent more than half that on remand.

One policeman said: "It is hard to fathom why they freed this man."