GANGSTERS snared during a decade-long probe racked up a £2.4million legal aid bill, we can reveal.
Dozens of hoods have been busted for murder, drugs, firearms and and money laundering since Operation Escalade was launched in 2014.
And Scottish Legal Aid Board figures show lawyers claimed at least £2,359,776 to defend them. The most expensive case per head involved a deadly ‘supergang’ led by assassin Barry Harvey, 36.
He was jailed last March for 29 years for gunning down gym boss Gary More, 32, in Airdrie in 2018. His briefs were paid £243,297.
Costs for sidekicks Darren Owen, 24, and Thomas Guthrie, 29, were £215,166 and £170,562 respectively.
Harvey funded a holiday to Krakow and splashed out on “Turkey teeth” dental treatment with the proceeds from the killing.
Almost £1.5million was run up on defending a cocaine-importing mob nailed for abduction, torture, gun and drugs charges across Glasgow and West Lothian.
David Sell, 57, was jailed in 2018 along with Barry O’Neill, 44, Michael Bowman, 38, Mark Richardson, 37, Gerard Docherty, 49, Steven McArdle, 40, Anthony Woods, 51, Martyn Fitzsimmons, 44 and Francis Mulligan, 48.
O’Neill racked up the highest bill at £205, 167.
Sell’s lawyers received £141, 249, Bowman’s £159, 594, Richardson’s £136, 378, Docherty’s £160, 251, McArdle’s £144, 643, Fitzsimmons’ £76,000, Mulligan’s £180, 008 and Woods’ £149, 849.
The crew were nicknamed the £200million ‘supergang’. Their lawyers were handed legal fees worth £1, 353, 139.
Joseph Lindsay, 40, a member of the same group, fled abroad to evade justice. His legal team was paid £45, 809.
Paul Scott, 53, the clan’s tech expert, fled to Spain, but lawyers were paid £38, 745 to defend him.
A crime plot led by Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson, 59, cost taxpayers £217,548. He got 20 years’ jail last October for a bid to ship coke in boxes of bananas — uncovered by the linked Operation Venetic.
Stevenson’s lawyers claimed £48, 675, and his associates Gerard Carbin, 45, , Lloyd Cross, 32, Paul Bowes, 53, and Ryan McPhee, 34, were locked up for 49 years.
Carbin’s lawyers recieved £28,247, Cross’ £67,411, Bowes’ £42,652 and McPhee’s £11, 590 in legal fees.
More than £115,000 was paid for a gang headed by James ‘The Don’ White, 47 — who boasted he made £126million from dealing drugs.
The crook and his crew members John Bonner, 38, David Kelly, 42, and Christopher Laycock, 52, were all jailed.
White’s lawyers were paid £50, 678, Bonner’s £10, 836, Kelly’s £23,976 and Laycock’s £15, 855.
Lawyers for Paul Fleming, 40, White’s right hand man were handed £14, 326.
Prosecutors later identified £118, 649.50 which could be confiscated from White.
Killer Jordan Owens, 30, convicted of shooting Jamie Lee, 23, near a playpark in Castlemilk, Glasgow in July 2017, was given access to £41, 639 for his 2022 defence.
The legal team of Christopher Hughes, 35, convicted of the murder of Dutch writer Martin Kok in the Netherlands in December 2016, have since been paid £125, 406.
Lawyers representing Paul MacDonald, 36, who boasted he could make £1.9million a month from a cocaine operation, were handed £33, 925. His co-accused Craig Balloch, 31, was granted £43, 217 for his defence.
Gerrard McTaggart, 49, delivered “wages” to gangland figures between May and October 2019.
His legal team earned £8,572.
In February 2022 James Davidson, 61, David Mullarkey, 50, Ellis Hardy, 45, and Wayne Smith, 42, were jailed after £10million of cocaine was found during a Renfrewshire raid on drugs smuggled in a Belgian waffle lorry.
Davidson’s defence received £20, 367, Hardy’s £14, 781, and Smith’s £11, 545.
Darren Mulheron, 41, and Daniel Lindsay, 54, were jailed in 2019 after cops seized £3.4million of heroin and cocaine and five Glock handguns. Mulheron’s legal team was paid £31, 457.
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP said: “Hard-pressed Scots will question why over £2 million of taxpayers’ money was spent defending criminals who had hundreds of thousands in the bank.”
A spokesman for SLAB said: “Legal aid is paid directly to lawyers to represent people accused of serious crimes to help ensure a jury can reach an appropriate verdict in a timely manner.
“Serious cases and those with multiple accused can result in higher costs because of the complex and serious nature of the charges and the amount of work this entails for their legal representatives.
“Where possible we reduce costs by working closely with the various legal teams involved to share resources and the advocates employed.
“If the accused were unrepresented there could have been even greater costs to the courts and prosecution and inconvenience and distress to victims.”
Detective Superintendent Steven Elliott said: “Serious Organised Crime has no place in society and I want to reassure people in all our communities that Police Scotland will continue to disrupt anyone involved in this type of activity on a daily basis, shutting down their illegal businesses and locking up those responsible.”