8 Heinous Scottish Criminals - And Their Crimes
6. Paul Ferris
Who Paul Ferris is and what he has done depends largely on who you choose to believe. He is a published author, a former business owner in the security field and the subject of the film The Wee Man. Prior to all these things however, he was alleged to have been a notorious, feared and extremely violent enforcer in the Glasgow underworld.
While he has only ever served a seven year stretch (as an adult) from 1998 for weapons charges and brief revisit for breach of bail, it was his earlier and more high-profile trial that caught the public's attention and threw him into the limelight. He was the defendant in what was, at the time, both the most expensive and longest trial in Scottish history.
The prosecution called witnesses that numbered into the hundreds, the trial took almost two months, the costs ran to over 4 million pounds... and in the end Paul Ferris was acquitted. He has been accused of two counts of attempted murder, drugs charges, weapons charges and more yet walked out of the court a free man.
He had initially worked for Arthur Thompson (now deceased) but had been accused of killing his son, Arthur Jr. (also deceased). His most famous and long-running feud was with Tam McGraw, who will be covered later in this list, but is also no longer with us.
Regardless of what you think of him, Paul Ferris is still alive despite his (alleged) line of work where there do not tend to be many old men.