An expat booted out of Australia over his links to organised crime has begged to return Down Under.
Convicted heroin trafficker David McCulloch was deported from Australia almost two years ago amid fears he posed a threat to society.
The 72-year-old, of Glasgow’s Maryhill, was an associate of key figures in Melbourne’s deadly drug war, which resulted in 36 deaths.
But the great-grandad, who left Scotland in 1971, said: “I’m now more Australian than Scottish. My family are in Australia and it’s where my parents are buried.
“It’s a long fight and things are moving very slowly. But my life is there and I need to go back.”
In 1986, former footballer McCulloch was jailed for five-and-a-half years for trafficking heroin from a car yard.
He said he got sucked into crime when his dad fell ill with leukaemia and he needed money for specialist treatment.
The disgraced Scot also set up as a jailhouse lawyer while behind bars and helped other inmates learn to read and write after being jailed for 12 years and six months for a second drug offence.
He was deported two years ago after being released in 2017. Victoria Police claimed he was conning vulnerable prisoners out of money with bogus legal advice.
McCulloch was flown back to the UK despite inmates successfully appealing their cases and their families supporting him.
His legal team say the ruling to deport him was based on a fake police intelligence report.
Officers who led the drug probe which resulted in McCulloch being locked up in 2005 have been imprisoned for organised crime offences, including drug dealing.
The ex-bank worker has always maintained corrupt detectives framed him. He says his solicitors have evidence which could overturn the decision to cancel his right to stay in Oz after almost 50 years there.
Meanwhile, he continues to help inmates in Australia’s high-security Barwon prison with their legal matters.
McCulloch, now in London, said: “Police in Australia think I am something I’m not.
“I committed a crime more than 30 years ago for which I’ll forever be ashamed. I knew people involved in crime but I had no illegal dealings with any of them. Two corrupt officers went to jail and admitted they fabricated evidence against me which resulted in me going to jail for a crime I didn’t commit.”
Australia’s Department of Justice and Community Safety launched a public inquiry into Victoria Police’s handling of informants and crooked officers. A former high court judge has been appointed as special investigator to look at corruption claims.
The department said: “Individual cases will be a matter for the special investigator and the courts. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
