The Daily Record has brought together a round-up of Scotland’s worst criminals jailed this week.
A former SNP party chief executive who embezzled party funds, an evil mother who murdered her daughter and a pervert who was caught in an online paedo hunter sting were among the Scots criminals jailed this week.
Also locked up was a disgraced former police officer who subjected a woman to a ‘heinous’ campaign of abuse and a “depraved” rapist who launched a horrific campaign of sexual abuse against two women and four young girls over a 17-year period.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh High Court heard that a hitman backed out of a plot to murder a high-profile gangland figure at the last minute. Here are the worst criminals jailed this week in Scotland.
Peter Murrell
Peter Murrell has been pictured on his way to jail after admitting to embezzling funds from the SNP between August 2010 and January 2023.
The former party chief executive appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, May 25. It is anticipated that Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, will receive a substantial prison sentence after he faced charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the SNP.
He admitted using the party’s money to buy items including a motorhome and luxury goods, and towards the purchase of two cars. The indictment included allegations that in 2020 Murrell used party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his own personal use, and that he falsified accounting records in an effort to cover up his wrongdoing.
It comes after a long-running police investigation, Operation Branchform, into SNP finances. Murrell, 61, was appointed chief executive of the SNP in 2001 during John Swinney’s first stint as party leader.
He quit as CEO in 2023 after a row over membership numbers and when Operation Branchform was ongoing. He and Sturgeon married in 2010 but the former First Minister last year announced they were getting divorced.
The policing cost of the long-running investigation reached more than £2 million.
Nicole Blain
Nicole Blain, 30, was jailed for life today at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, May 28.
She was found guilty of murdering the infant by a jury at the same court last month. The court heard how Blain lashed out at helpless Thea, who was 19 days old, after losing her temper at her Greenock flat on July 14, 2023.
Tiny Thea suffered a string of catastrophic injuries including three skull fractures, brain damage and bleeding behind the eyes. These were consistent with the baby being violently shaken and repeatedly hit off a hard floor, wall or furniture.
The baby also suffered injuries to her ribs consistent with her chest being pressed. Her neck was also hurt which could have been from “forceful” movement back and forth of her head.
During the trial, pathologist Leighanne Deboys told the jury a combination of Thea being shaken and impact with a hard surface would account for these horrific injuries – described by another medic as similar to those suffered by a car crash victim. Blain testified during her trial and sobbed as she tried to claim her daughter’s death was “a tragic accident”.
In a sick cover-up bid, she tried to claim she had woken up from a nap to find her daughter stricken on the floor. She went on to claim another child also in the flat had “done” what happened to Thea.
Her vile lies were branded “nonsense” by prosecutors. It will be 19 years before Blain can be considered for parole.
Willum Webster
Willum Webster who was caught in an online paedo hunter sting has been jailed for almost two years.
The 35-year-old was snared by the vigilante group after he made contact with a social media profile he believed to belong to a teenage schoolgirl. Webster sent disgusting sexual comments and images to the account of ’14-year-old Sophie’ including several videos of a male carrying out a solo sex act.
He also begged the child to perform a degrading sex act for him and told her what sexual positions he wanted to engage in with her. Members of the hunter group tracked Webster down to his home in Edinburgh and live streamed the confrontation to thousands of viewers on their Facebook page in January this year.
The police were called in and the pervert later moaned to officers “I can’t believe I’ve done this again” after it emerged this was his fourth conviction for sexual offending. Webster pleaded guilty to attempting to communicate indecently with a child when he appeared from custody at the capital’s sheriff court earlier this year.
He returned to the dock for sentencing where he was jailed for 726 days and was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years. He was also made subject of a 10 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Christopher Ferguson
Disgraced former police officer Christopher Ferguson who subjected a woman to a ‘heinous’ campaign of abuse has been jailed for 14 months.
He branded her a ‘slut’, ‘pathetic’ and called her a ‘f*****g wee c**t’ on a day out after Rangers had suffered a defeat. Jealous Ferguson even created a fake Tinder profile of the woman which one of her friends discovered.
He would also demand to see her Instagram profile so he could see who had liked and commented on her photos. During another incident he pinned her against a wall which left her ‘sobbing’ due to his aggressive conduct.
He later told her he had attended therapy and delivered a 19-page handwritten ‘sorry letter’ in which he apologised for being emotionally abusive towards her.
Ferguson, of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted breaching domestic abuse laws between May 2021 and February 2023. Ferguson, who is being held in HMP Dumfries, will be supervised for six months following his release from jail.
Paul Patrick
A “depraved” rapist who launched a horrific campaign of sexual abuse against two women and four young girls over a 17-year period has been jailed indefinitely.
Paul Patrick, of Ballater, Aberdeenshire, was found guilty of 19 charges, including multiple rapes and sexual assaults, following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. The 61-year-old businessman targeted the victims at locations across Scotland, including at his pet shop in Aboyne, between 2006 and 2023.
Patrick used the same pattern of behaviour to get close to the six victims and gain access to them, the prosecution showed, exploiting their individual vulnerabilities and manipulating and exploiting them, often with promises of love and marriage.
Patrick also used his links to the go-karting circuit to abuse one of the children. Patrick was also found guilty of breaking bail conditions involving a third woman.
Patrick was handed an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) at the High Court in Edinburgh. He must serve a minimum of eight years and six months in custody before he can be considered for release into the community by the Parole Board. He has been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely with non-harassment orders also granted.
James Richards
A hitman who backed out of a plot to murder a high-profile gangland figure at the last minute has been jailed.
James Richards, 36, was hired by Glasgow gang leader David Nisbet to travel from Liverpool to carry out the shooting of crime rival Ryan Carvil for between £70,000 and £100,000.
But evidence gathered by police and prepared by prosecutors at the Crown Office showed the plan faltered when Richards reneged on the arrangement at the 11th hour. Following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, Richards was caged for seven years and six months today, May 26.
He pled guilty to a charge of being involved in serious organised crime between April 9 and 13, 2020. He was also made subject of a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) which will last for three years following his release from prison and is aimed at ensuring he does not return to a life of crime.
Messages on the encrypted communications platform Encrochat revealed how Nisbet, the principal of an organised crime group in Glasgow, discussed the assassination plot with Richards and two other associates.
He eventually reached an agreement for Richards to carry out the shooting for payment that varied between £70,000 and £100,000. Conversations included plans for Richards to travel up from England to a flat in Lenzie near Glasgow before carrying out the plan to shoot Carvil.
Images were also posted showing a gun and a wrapped bundle of cash. On April 11, 2020, the accused was given a gun and taken on a tour of places where his victim was likely to be that day by criminal associates of Nisbet.
But Richards pulled out hours before the killing was due to take place over fears that his getaway car was not fast enough as well as doubts over the arrangements. Police officers then stopped Richards’ car on the M74 as he headed back south.
Although nothing of note was found in the vehicle, a subsequent analysis of the Encrochat communications revealed the scope of his involvement in the conspiracy to commit murder.
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