A DEFIANT dad was cleared of keeping his son from school - after a sheriff heard how crime boss Eddie Lyons threatened to burn down his home.

Dad-of-nine John McLean kept his son Dean, 14, off for three years because he did not want him attending PE classes in a council-funded centre run by Lyons.

John, 67, had infuriated Lyons by speaking out against alleged violence and drug-dealing at the centre in Milton, Glasgow.

He said: "I raised concerns about the suitability of the position Mr Lyons held with children.

"I have been informed I was going to be burnt out of my home if I did not keep my mouth shut."

Incredibly, while Lyons was given the all clear in a council whitewash, John was charged for refusing to send Dean to Chirnsyde Primary School. But last week, a sheriff gave him an absolute discharge after hearing how Lyons, 48, had targeted him.

John, who defended himself, said: "I would rather have gone to prison than back down."

Last year Dean was given a panic alarm by police after Lyons was accused of swerving a minibus at him.

The school no longer uses the building, which received £80,000 a year from Glasgow City Council.

Half of that was stopped this year after the council ordered a probe into the centre's finances.

The hated Lyons clan are involved in shootings, stabbings and drug dealing.

Lyons was cleared of an attempted murder at the centre in 2000.

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