James McAvoy’s criminal half-brother is handed another sentence for having illegally modified phone in prison
- Donald McAvoy, 33, from Drumchapel, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to the offence
- He has more than 40 previous convictions including a string of violent crimes
The criminal half brother of Hollywood actor James McAvoy was handed another prison sentence today for having an illegally-modified phone in a top security jail.
Donald McAvoy, 33, from Drumchapel, was serving four years and 10 months at the time after being jailed at the High Court in Glasgow in 2021 for a road-rage attack on a 57-year-old grandfather.
Today, Stirling Sheriff Court was told that warders had gone to McAvoy’s cell in high security Glenochil Prison, Clackmannanshire, on January 18.
Prosecutor Lindsey Brooks said: ‘He was asked if he had any contraband and he produced a prison-issue mobile phone with an illicit SIM card from under his bed.’
McAvoy, appearing by video link, pleaded guilty to having an illegal communications device in jail.
Donald McAvoy, 33, from Drumchapel, Glasgow, has been handed another prison sentence today for having an illegally-modified phone in a top security jail
Donald McAvoy (left) pictured during a brutal road rage attack in Glasgow in March 2020. He is thought never to have met his half-brother, Hollywood star James McAvoy (right)
The court heard he had already been punished by the prison authorities, with seven days loss of recreation, seven days loss of earnings and 30 days loss of physical training.
Defence solicitor Abby Russell asked that, because of that, he should be dealt with in a way that did not interfere with his release date.
Sheriff Frank Gill jailed him for seven months, to run concurrently with his existing sentence.
McAvoy has more than 40 previous convictions for offences including a string of violent crimes.
Prisoners in Scottish jails are issued with mobile phones and locked SIM cards, as part of changes introduced during the Covid pandemic.
Outgoing calls made on the jail-issue devices can be monitored, and should only be possible to numbers already included in existing prisoner call lists.
The phones are not text or Internet enabled, and are unable to receive incoming calls.
The official devices also ration calls to 300 minutes a month. Extracting the official SIM card and inserting a standard one circumvents some of these restrictions.
X-Men actor James McAvoy, 44, who has also starred in films including Filth, Atonement and Trance, is thought to have never met Donald, with whom he shares a father.
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