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Showing posts from 2017

TAXI BLAZE THREAT RAP OF COCAINE GANGSTER … ex-Royal Regiment of Scotland lance corporal accused of terrorising Glasgow Private Hire taxi firm staff … thug faces jail over firearms

A FORMER soldier who supplied British Army explosives to the Daniel crime clan was accused of threatening to torch the HQ of Scotland's biggest cab firm. Martyn Fitzsimmons, 37, allegedly terrorised staff at Glasgow Private Hire (GPH), which is owned by Paisley businessman Stevie Malcolm, 54. The former lance corporal in the Royal Regiment of Scotland is said to have made the threat in a call to the firm's office in the city's east end in March. Fitzsimmons faces a lengthy jail term as a senior member of a cocaine gang which police say was " at the top of the chain " in Scotland. He and eight other men pled guilty to a string of charges involving guns, drugs and violence and will be sentenced in  January  2018. The ex-squaddie was accused of making the call to Malcolm's office along with the attempted murder of Lyons mob thug Ross Monaghan outside a primary school in Penilee, Glasgow, in January. But in a deal with prosecutors, his not...

FRAUD SQUAD PROBE COUNCIL BOSSES; EXCLUSIVE … Whistleblower claims Renfrewshire provost and four councillors filed dodgy expense claims ... including SNP councillor who became Scottish Government finance secretary a decade later

A PROVOST and four councillors are being probed by the Fraud Squad over alleged dodgy expenses claims. Detectives have submitted a report to prosecutors over cash paid to Renfrewshire leader Ronnie Burns and colleague Celia Lawson.  And the police are examining expenses claimed by depute leader Tommy Williams, Mark Macmillan and SNP group leader Derek Mackay.  The investigation was sparked by retired businessman Tom Gatley, 66, who used freedom of information laws to obtain all 40 Renfrewshire councillors' expenses sheets since 2000.  He studied 7000 documents and claims he found disturbing evidence of over-claiming.  Gatley says the documents show that:  Provost Burns claimed for car mileage on consecutive days - although he has access to an official Jaguar. He also claimed expenses for meals when official meals were provided.  Williams' expenses sheets claim he worked on council duties for at least 11 hours daily - entitling h...

EXCLUSIVE: Lawyer charged dead friend's estate £10,200 for work worth £18 ... Highland solicitor Torquil Macleod guilty of professional misconduct ... but Scottish legal self-regulation results in £3,000 fine after he is backed by sheriff

A ROGUE lawyer overcharged by £15,583 while dealing with the multi-million pound estate of a dead friend. Torquil Macleod, 63, took £33,533 in fees over five years following the death of his client and friend in 2007. Auditors found that the correct charge for Macleod’s work should have been £17,314. The dead client, whose identity has been withheld by legal regulators, left an estate worth £4.4million, which included properties in England. The Inverness-based solicitor’s " grossly excessive " fees were discovered during a Law Society of Scotland routine audit in 2014. It found that in 2012 he took £10,200 - when he was entitled to just £18. The Law Society referred Macleod to the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal who found him guilty of professional misconduct and fined him £3,000. Macleod’s lawyer said that his professional relationship with the late client had “ grown into a friendship ”. He also said the overcharging happened while ...

EXCLUSIVE: PC smeared in call to Crimestoppers hotline ... Vindicated officer: 'I was devastated when they forced me out and astonished when they asked me back ... I still don't know the truth'

A POLICE officer was forced to resign after a colleague allegedly called Crimestoppers to try to smear her. The PC was told to quit after she was falsely accused of being in the pocket of gangsters. When police chiefs discovered she was innocent three months later, they asked her to return with full back pay. The law graduate received a personal apology from then chief constable Campbell Corrigan after being summoned to Strathclyde Police HQ. The 27–year–old was reinstated and quizzed as part of a probe into the conduct of Superintendent Steven Reed. Reed has been suspended for the past year and a report into alleged criminality is still being considered by Crown Office prosecutors. The ex–PC's career in the force was ruined after she unwittingly found herself in the company of gangland twins Bryan and James Hanlon, 30, during a night out in February 2012. She reported it to her boss and a Professional Standards Unit probe cleared her of wrongdoing. ...

EXCLUSIVE: Full story of how a determined ex-MoD mechanic got one over car theft gang ... Audi R8 worth £65,000 stolen from Stirling ... but after scouring Edinburgh in 'needle in haystack' search he FINDS his beloved car

A DETERMINED driver whose uninsured £65,000 Audi was stolen from his garage was astonished when he tracked it down 40 miles away. The sporty R8 was swiped from the Stirling home of Ronnie Hutton at 4.30am on Thursday, November 23. Police told him the car had been seen driving into Edinburgh so he and a friend embarked on a ‘needle in a haystack’ mission to find it. At 3pm that afternoon, Ronnie discovered it stashed on a street in Colinton. The retired Ministry of Defence mechanic, who served in Afghanistan and spent nine years saving up for the Audi, said: “ I knew it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack but it’s my pride and joy and I had to do something. “I’m a very happy man. People are asking me for this week’s lottery numbers. “My friend runs a vehicle recovery business so he knows the most common areas where stolen cars are hidden. “We had a list of around 15 postcodes and I started at one side of the city and he went to the other. ...

SOUNESS TACKLED ... Rangers & Scotland legend slammed over plan to build houses on Tory's green belt land ... backed by tycoon Ann Gloag and an ex-bankrupt ... but critics say development will destroy nature and damage health

RANGERS legend Graeme Souness and a former bankrupt are behind a multi million-pound bid to build thousands of houses on green belt land owned by the family of a late Tory minister. The ex-Scotland star and his son Fraser Souness, 36, want planning chiefs to agree to the major EuroPark development beside the M8 motorway in Lanarkshire. Their business partner is one-time bankrupt Scott Gillespie, 43, a member of the Gillespie mining dynasty who went bust owing £60million. Campaigners have vowed to block EuroPark which they say would destroy three square miles of green belt. Michael McBride, secretary of Cairnhill Community Council, said: " We'll fight tooth and nail to prevent the loss of what is effectively a country park. This development would lead to pollution and urban sprawl ." The land - between the villages of Carnbroe and Calderbank - is owned by two daughters of former home secretary and Margaret Thatcher ally Willie Whitelaw, who died in 199...