Ian McAteer

McAteer was jailed in late 1993 for drug-related offences.[2] While incarcerated at HMP Glenochil in Tullibody,[12] he had conflict with Glaswegian criminal John "Jack" Bennett, a former associate. The family of Bennett attributed the rift to his rejecting McAteer's sexual advances.[7]

On 28 February 1998, Bennett was killed in a daylight attack on Glasgow's Royston Road,[13] incurring 57 stab wounds:[7] McAteer and two other men (Robert Burke and Donald McPhail) stood trial for the murder.[13] The prosecution posited that McAteer had put out a contract while in jail, offering "2 oz of tobacco and 50 temazepam tablets" to any inmate who killed Bennett.[7] On 10 August a jury at Glasgow's High Court returned a not proven verdict.[13]

Later in 1998, McAteer was arrested in Merseyside on suspicion of shooting a man at a set of traffic lights in Glasgow: the incident had occurred mere yards from the site of the Bennett murder. He avoided charges when the victim refused to make a formal complaint.[7] McAteer also became a suspect in the 1999 murder of television presenter Jill Dando.[3]

While in prison, McAteer met Liverpudlian Warren Selkirk, and later enlisted him as a drug courier. In 1999, however, McAteer feared that his colleague was becoming a liability (with particular concerns over his mounting gambling debts[14]): on 30 October Selkirk was shot five times at Crosby Marina in north Merseyside, while his children waited for him in a nearby car.[6][15] A plastic bag filled with dog excrement – a sign of contempt – was found in his right hand.[15] Police traced McAteer travelling from Glasgow to Liverpool by tracking his mobile phone activity, which led to his arrest.[16] McAteer maintained his innocence,[17] and later blamed Liverpool associate Paul Bennett for setting him up.[18]

Tony Thompson in The Observer reported that McAteer "threatened to shoot a number of police officers as well as anyone who stood as a witness against him": at least two criminals were given new identities under the witness protection program in return for their testimony.[15] On 5 April 2001 at Liverpool Crown Court, McAteer was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life. He was given a concurrent five-year term for attempting to pervert the course of justice, with sentencing delayed on a further conviction of plotting to supply ecstasy and heroin.[6] Six months later, the drug offences – for which McAteer was originally remanded in custody by Liverpool magistrates in February 2000[19] – met with a 16-year sentence.[10] As of September 2002, McAteer was incarcerated at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.[17]

In December 2003, McAteer was refused permission to appeal his murder conviction.[1] Following a 2006 review of the case at London's Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Grigson ruled that McAteer must serve a minimum of 22-and-a-half years before being considered for parole.[20]

Former Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris has known McAteer since childhood. In his 2005 book, Vendetta, Ferris protested McAteer's innocence in relation to the murder of Selkirk, suggesting that police pinned the murder to McAteer in order to assuage grief among the city of Liverpool. He argued that McAteer's "jealous" henchman, George Bell Smith – whose ex-girlfriend was now in a relationship with McAteer – provided false testimony of his boss indicating guilt (including the brandishing of a gun) in return for having a child sexual abuse charge dropped.[9] McAteer's appeal would have indeed asserted that a key witness had charges against them dismissed after agreeing to give evidence.[17]

Ferris found it implausible that McAteer, whom he described as being "so cautious as to be almost paranoid", would implicate himself in such a way, and concluded that Selkirk was killed by Irish criminals due to unpaid debts.[9] In a 2005 interview he said: "It is common knowledge that [McAteer] did not do it. Even the dogs in the street know it... he is being kept inside because of politics and nothing else."[21]