Ian McAteer

Ian Douglas McAteer (born November 1961) growing up between his birthplace and Easterhouse, Glasgow. By age 11, an impoverished McAteer was robbing purses and handbags to feed himself and his four siblings, all of whom had fractured childhoods and spent time in foster care. According to Johnson and Liverpool Echo crime reporter Tom Duffy, McAteer also worked as a hitman. while a senior Liverpool detective labelled him "extremely dangerous". He was known within Merseyside as "Mad Jock"; "Little Hands" has been reported as an alternate nickname.

McAteer had a nomadic lifestyle, with home bases including Maryhill, Drumchapel and Leicester. He has two children.

Drug conviction and Bennett trial In 1993, McAteer was arrested while in possession of an abundance of recreational drugs. He represented himself at Glasgow's High Court later that year, but was nevertheless sentenced to five years in prison.

On 28 February 1998, following both McAteer and Bennett's release from prison, the latter was killed in a daylight attack on Glasgow's Royston Road, incurring 57 stab wounds. McAteer and two other men (Robert Burke and Donald McPhail) stood trial for the murder; 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. On 10 August a jury at Glasgow's High Court returned a not proven verdict.

Shooting arrest and further scrutiny 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. On 30 October, Selkirk was shot five times at Crosby Marina in North Merseyside, while his children waited for him in a nearby car; a plastic bag filled with dog excrement – a sign of "contempt" – was found in his right hand. An Irish terrorist group appeared to take responsibility for Selkirk's murder, but police determined that this was a red herring devised by McAteer.

Six months later, the drug offences – for which McAteer and seven others were originally remanded in custody by Liverpool magistrates in February 2000 – met with a 16-year sentence.

Paul Ferris 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. McAteer's appeal would have indeed asserted that a key witness had charges against them dismissed after agreeing to give evidence.

Later life In 2011, McAteer, alongside another former Glasgow gangster, Jamie Stevenson, raised £3,776 for Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children by running a marathon on a treadmill at HMP Shotts in North Lanarkshire. The effort was branded a "con" by the sister of Jack Bennett: she maintained McAteer's culpability for the murder of her brother.