Criminal Record has brought together a round-up of today’s biggest crime stories.
Every day on Criminal Record we will be bringing you a round-up of the biggest crime stories of the day.
Whether it’s a child killer making a bid for freedom or another attack in Scotland’s gangland war – this is the place where you’ll get the low-down.
If you love to read about crime – this is the place to be every day.
Here’s what has been making the news today across the country:
Car torched in Glasgow firebomb attack
A car was firebombed in a Glasgow street as children slept nearby.
Emergency crews raced to the scene at Meiklerig Crescent in the Pollok area of the city on Wednesday night, January 29, at around 10.30pm. Police Scotland confirmed the fire is being treated as deliberate and their enquiries are ongoing.
Speaking to the Record a bystander explained children in neighbouring houses were asleep when the car was set on fire.
They said: “The car went up in flames really quick and it was lucky it didn’t spread to the houses in the street. “There were children in their beds sleeping at the time so it could have had really serious consequences. Luckily the emergency services arrived pretty quick and the fire was extinguished but it isn’t the sort of thing you want to see happening in a quiet wee street.”
Scots crooks caught on EncroChat
The Record has documented the most high-profile criminals caged after the EncroChat messaging service was cracked.
Gangsters used the encrypted phone network in the belief that their messages to one another could not be detected.
However, in March, 2020, French and Dutch police installed malware that gave them access to devices used by crooks.
Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson, Ross McGill, John Barry McDuff, Kristopher Kinnaird, David Nisbet and Declan McCuish make up the list.
Drugs kingpin Jamie Stevenson tops the list after he was jailed for 20 years in October, 2024, after being found guilty of masterminding a plot to smuggle £100m of cocaine from Ecuador in boxes of bananas.
Messages from EncroChat showed Stevenson’s ‘BigTastey’ handle being used on the service to organise the shipment of 952 blocks of cocaine, which was addressed to a Glasgow fruit merchant.
Seven deaths linked to infections at Scots superhospital now being probed
Seven deaths linked to infections at a Scots superhospital are now being investigated by prosecutors.
Details of the circumstances surrounding the deaths, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, have been passed on to teams at Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
The case of 23-year-old Molly Cuddihy, who died last August, has now also been passed on to COPFS.
A spokesperson for COPFS said: “A thorough and independent investigation into the deaths is ongoing and the families will continue to be kept updated in relation to any significant developments.”