James McAvoy’s brother charged with stealing a car

The half-brother of actor James McAvoy will face court charged with stealing a car, just months after getting out of jail.

Donald McAvoy, 28, is accused of stealing a five-year-old grey Vauxhall Corsa Sxi Ac from outside a house in Denny, Stirlingshire, on April 17.

His lawyer Graham Walker asked Falkirk Sheriff Court on Wednesday by letter for the case to be continued without plea for three weeks.

The court heard this was to allow him to take instructions from McAvoy, who is behind bars, who was not present in court.

He is the half-brother of actor James McAvoy (pictured)

Donald McAvoy (left), the half-brother of actor James McAvoy (right), will face court charged with stealing a car, just months after getting out of jail

Sheriff Alison McKay continued the case without plea until August 22nd.

McAvoy was in fresh legal trouble barely a few months after he was released from jail following a nine-month sentence for abduction.

He last year abducted and beat a father-of-four over a £5,000 unpaid drug debt so badly that he was covered in blood and feared he may die.

McAvoy and Stephen Killen, 30, then locked their victim Zahid Sattar in a car and drove him around for hours, demanding the cash owned by a mutual friend.

While in jail he was part of a gang that badly beat another inmate with a scrubbing brush in a row over a phone at Low Moss jail near Glasgow, according to The Sun.

Life of crime: Donald McAvoy’s rap sheet 

2016: Jailed for six months failing to stop for police and driving while disqualified and without insurance

2014: 20 months in jail after £13,600 of cocaine was found in his flat 

2007: Jailed for 30 months for stabbing a man ten times outside a bar

It was not clear if the beating, which got McAvoy moved to a different prison hall, was while he was in jail for abducting Mr Sattar or after his latest arrest.

The troubled young man was jailed at least another three times dating back to 2007 when he got 30 months for stabbing a man ten times outside a bar.

Seven years later he was sentenced to 20 months in jail after £13,600 of cocaine was found in his flat. 

Then in 2016 he was jailed for six months failing to stop for police and driving while disqualified and without insurance.

James McAvoy, 39, who has also starred in films including Filth, Atonement and Trance, is thought to have never met his half-brother, with whom he shares a father.

The actor had a hard childhood on a notorious council estate in Glasgow, and has not spoken to his father, roofer James McAvoy Snr, since his childhood.

James McAvoy has not spoken to his father, roofer James McAvoy Snr (pictured), since his childhood

James McAvoy has not spoken to his father, roofer James McAvoy Snr (pictured), since his childhood

James McAvoy in the trailer for his upcoming film Glass

James McAvoy in the trailer for his upcoming film Glass

McAvoy Snr told the Mail On Sunday in 2008: ‘It has been hard on me not being in his life, but I’m just glad that he seems happy. I hope one day he’ll get in touch.

McAvoy Jnr was brought up by his maternal grandparents James and Mary Johnstone in a council house on the graffiti-decorated Drumchapel estate after his parents divorced.

His father moved in with another woman, Mary McKinnon, and the actor refused to see his father from age eight because he didn’t like her, his father claimed.

Life and death in ‘The Drum’: Grim Glasgow housing estate where unemployment is rife and half the children live in poverty

Drumchapel is one of several large housing estates on the outskirts of Glasgow and is one of the most deprived communities in the region.

Known by locals as ‘The Drum’, life expectancy for both men and women is lower than the Glasgow average: for men, it is 69.9; for women, 73.9.

This is about five years less than the average for Glasgow, according to the National Records of Scotland.

And data from 2011 provides another bleak statistic: Around 65 per cent lived within 500m of vacant or derelict land.

Only 22 per cent of householders in Drumchapel, pictured, own their own homes

Only 22 per cent of householders in Drumchapel, pictured, own their own homes

Developed in the 1950s as a response to the post-war housing shortage, the estate is about six miles from Glasgow City Centre.

When it was first built, there were no public transport links to the city apart from a twice-hourly bus service.

People from Drumchapel were employed by the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber company, the Singer sewing machine company, Beatties biscuit factory and the Clyde ship yards.

However, most of these jobs disappeared in the 1970s.

Half of all children in Drumchapel, pictured, live in poverty according to official reports

Half of all children in Drumchapel, pictured, live in poverty according to official reports

Today, only 22 per cent of householders in Drumchapel own their own homes and only 47 per cent are in paid employment.

Its population declined by more than 20 per cent between 1996 and 2012 to 12,976, according to census data.

One in four of the population is under 18, although half of all children are in poverty while 58 per cent are single parent households.  

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk