RUN OVER & HACKED TO DEATH

Michael, 35, found dying in street after horrific attack

- RORY CASSIDY

A MURDER probe has been launched after a man was reported to have been run over then attacked by a machete-wielding thug.

The victim, named locally as Michael Beaton, was assaulted in Greenock on Sunday night and died shortly after being taken to hospital.

Sources claim the 35-year-old was first run over by a car before being hit across the face, neck and leg with a bladed weapon.

Police cordoned off the area on Drumfrochar Road in the town, where he was discovered at 7.20pm on Sunday.

The cordon forced the closure of nearby St Patrick's Primary School, with youngsters told to go to other schools in the area.

Michael is said to have lived in an area of the town referred to as Bow Road, or Bow, about a mile from where he was found fatally injured.

"Talk is he was in an awful state when he was found, he was clinging to life. It's gutting."