Police ScotlandA gang who murdered a man after a so-called feud have been jailed for a total of 81 years.
Robert Park, 69, Raymond Platt, 56, Craig Colquhoun, 39, and Joseph McCulloch, 50, were convicted on Wednesday of a plot to fatally attack Tony Ferns on April 18, 2019.
The 33-year-old was stabbed in the heart as he sat in his car near his mother’s home in Thornliebank, East Renfrewshire.
Jurors heard how Tony had long blamed Park – known as Rab – for his disabled brother Mark being injured in a road accident seven years earlier.
There were a number of clashes between the pair before Tony tried to call a “truce”.
Police ScotlandBut, instead, window cleaner Park teamed up with convicted killer Platt, his friend McCulloch and Colquhoun to kill the Tony.
Prosecutors stated Platt was the attacker with Colquhoun the getaway driver in the Motability Audi Q2 car belonging to the mum of his then-partner.
McCulloch was said to have been helping track Tony’s movements before the killing.
COPFSAll four had denied being involved in the murder during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
But, they were all convicted of the charge by jurors on Wednesday.
Lord Fairley stated: “This was not, as is sometimes seen in these courts, a fight that got out of hand.
“This was a targeted and pre-planned assassination.”
Each were handed a life sentence. Platt was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment, the biggest minimum jail-term of the four.
Lord Fairley remarked on his “appalling” criminal record.
He had previously been jailed for 14 years for the culpable homicide of a man in 2000.
Platt was then sentenced to nine years for attempted murder in 2013. He was freed early and was back on the streets just eight months before stabbing Tony.
Park – a convicted drug trafficker – was jailed for at least 20 years. He was described as “the instigator” for the murder.
Colquhoun was handed the same minimum term. He had previously been locked up for violence in 2012.
McCulloch – whose lawyer said the conviction was a “fall from grace” for the ex-railway engineering firm site manager – must serve at least 18 years.
Tony’s mother was in court along with other relatives and sobbed as her son’s killers faced justice.
None of the four showed any emotion as they were led handcuffed to the cells.
‘Grudge’
Jurors were told how Tony’s brother Mark died in 2017. Their mother Phyllis Ferns revealed how Tony had been left devastated by his sibling’s passing.
Mark was said to have earlier been left badly affected by a road collision in 2012. In her evidence, his mother agreed Tony held a “grudge” against Park for this incident.
She said her son believed Park had “made the phone call” that brought the car into the street which knocked down Mark.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC put to her: “Fair to say that there was bad blood between Rab Park and Tony?”
Phyllis replied: “Yes.”
In charges withdrawn during the trial it was claimed Park had once brandished a knife and later a hammer at Tony.
Park and McCulloch were also said to have confronted him while in his work’s van.
In a further incident, the court heard Tony had punched Park.
Around 2017, Tony then decided to speak to Park in a local bookmakers to try and “draw a line under things” as Tony’s mum had been “worried” at matters escalating.
Park apparently agreed – before stating: “You were getting murdered – but I will make the phone call and call them off.”
The court heard, however, Tony remained a target. He became paranoid that a car had been following him.
‘The life was draining from him’
The murder occurred shortly after he picked up his partner from her shift at a local shop.
Tony parked his Audi A3 – as the car containing Platt and Colquhoun pulled out a side street.
The woman recalled how he then dropped her home as she went to get her sister who had been babysitting her children.
After she got out the car, the woman spotted a man at the car. She was not worried as “Tony knew everybody”.
But, she then heard his Audi “screech” away towards Tony’s mother’s home nearby.
She recalled Tony shouting: “I have been stabbed.”
She immediately raced up to her stricken boyfriend, who had managed to get to his mum’s door.
Upset, she told jurors: “He collapsed in my arms. I just held him in my arms. You could see that the life was draining from him.”
Tony’s panicked mother made a 999 call, during which, she said: “You are going to have to get an ambulance. There is a lot of blood. My son is dying.”
Tony passed away having suffered a stab wound to the heart. He had also been knifed in the abdomen.
The court heard Park had gone for an anniversary meal with his wife and son at a hotel in Glasgow’s southside on the night of the killing.
The day after, McCulloch had an alcohol-fuelled BBQ at his home – Colquhoun and Platt were among the large gathering.
CCTV footage and mobile phone evidence were crucial in the four being charged following a large-scale police probe.
But, it was six years after the murder before they faced a trial.
Park and McCulloch were the only two of the killers to give evidence.
The court heard the pair often met up to watch Rangers games on TV in the former’s “mancave” at the back of his home.
Park also knew Platt and helped him get a job with McCulloch. Colquhoun also ended up working in the railway industry.
Park’s KC Tony Graham put to him in his evidence: “Are all of you all here because you wanted him (Tony) taught a lesson and that it all went a bit too far?”
He denied the suggestion. Park added the first he had heard of the death was either on the news or someone he knew had seen it on social media.
Pigeon-keeper McCulloch said if he had been seen driving slowly in the area, it was not because he was looking for Tony, but instead had been searching for any of the birds that he owned.
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