Six gangsters whose lawyers claimed the men should walk free from jail because jurors had ‘made up their minds’ about their guilt during a trial have lost their appeals.
Brian Ferguson, 38, Andrew Gallacher, 41, Robert Pickett, 54, Andrew Sinclair, 33, John Hardie, 36, and Peter Bain, 46, are serving prison sentences for conspiracy to murder.
They were convicted following proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow in May 2019. Jurors heard how the men were associates of the Lyons criminal family and they were found guilty of plotting attempts to kill five men linked to their rivals, the Daniel family.
Last month lawyers for the men told the Court of Criminal Appeal that their clients should have their convictions quashed.
They told the court that during the trial, a woman called Ashleigh Muldoon, a partner of one of the accused men, told a solicitor that she saw three jurors leaving the High Court in Glasgow following the close of proceedings for the day.
She said she had heard the jurors say that they had made their minds up about the guilt of the men but would still need to listen to the lawyers’s closing speeches.
Lord Mulholland appointed his clerk to investigate the claims and he concluded there was nothing to substantiate the claims.
Advocate Brian McConnachie QC, for Bain, told judges that Lord Mulholland shouldn’t have allowed his clerk to investigate. He said this was because the clerk lacked the necessary skills to properly investigate the claims.
Mr McConnachie said his client suffered a miscarriage of justice because of how the probe was handled.
However, in a written judgement issued on Friday, judges Lord Carloway, Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews rejected the appeals.
They concluded that Lord Mulholland acted appropriately in appointing his clerk to investigate the claim and that the staff member was suitably qualified to do the job.
Lord Carloway wrote: “The court rejects the contention that the clerk of court was in some way unqualified to carry out what was to be a relatively limited inquiry involving asking a very few, prescribed questions, noting down the answers and identifying any relevant CCTV images brought to his attention by the police.
“A Depute Clerk of Justiciary may, or may not, have an academic legal qualification. In all instances, he or she will have undergone substantial training in the procedures and practices of the High Court and, in particular, how to deal with and, on occasions, advise upon any practical matters which arise during the course of a trial.
“This particular Depute Clerk was a clerk of many years’ experience. There is no reason to doubt his competence to carry out the delegated task.
“The trial judge would have been well aware of his clerk’s skills and experience. He was content that the clerk could and would do what the judge instructed.
“The trial judge did not simply adopt findings made by the clerk.
“The judge was entitled to reach the view that Miss Muldoon’s allegation was not well founded and that the trial should continue.”
Ferguson, Gallacher and Hardie were each jailed for 20 years; Picket was jailed for 16 years; Bain was jailed for 15 years; and Sinclair was jailed for 13 years and three months.
Passing sentence, Lord Mulholland told them: "You sought to turn Glasgow into a war zone for your feud.”
The court heard how the men had targeted Robert Daniel, Thomas Bilsland, Gary Petty, Ryan Fitzsimmons and Steven Daniel between June 2016 and September 2017 at locations in Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Manchester.
The murder bids included an attack on Steven Daniel on May 18 2017.
After a high-speed car chase which ended with a crash on an off-ramp of the M8, he was attacked with a cleaver and a hammer.
His nose was almost severed from his face, and his injuries were so severe that police initially thought he had been shot at close range.
The Audi S3 used in the attack was set on fire, but a bloodied machete was discovered in the back seat.
Mr Daniel was badly injured in the attack in May 2017.
The first attack was on Robert Daniel, whose car was rammed by another vehicle before he was chased into a house in Robroyston, Glasgow in December 2016.
Once inside the house he was struck twice on the back of the head with what he later told police was a hatchet or a machete.
A month later, Thomas Bilsland suffered a fractured skull after he was set upon in Glasgow's Cranhill.
Gary Petty was targeted after he visited an Italian takeaway in Maryhill on 7 March 2017.
Former soldier Ryan Fitzsimmons was left unconscious and brain-damaged after being ambushed in the street by a masked gang on 28 April 2017.
The 34-year-old was attacked with a sword and a hammer outside the home he shared with his mother in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.
He told jurors: "It felt like death was coming."
During proceedings last month, prosecutor Paul Kearney told the court that there was no evidence available to show that the clerk had mishandled the claims.
On Friday, the appeal judges agreed with submissions made by the Crown.
Lord Carloway wrote: “The observer would be aware of the reasoning ultimately provided by the judge for rejecting Miss Muldoon’s account.
“He or she would have in mind the clear directions given by the judge to the jury that they must decide the case solely upon the basis of the evidence which they had heard.
“Finally, he or she would see that the jury deliberated for some three days before returning discerning verdicts in relation to each appellant.
“At the end of this process, the fair minded informed observer would not consider that there was any real possibility of bias.
“The appeals are refused.”
