Police Scotland have renewed their appeal for information on the mystery murder of a father-of-two 17 years ago.

Martin Toner was reported missing in June 2004 and his body was found in a farm field several weeks later in Langbank, Renfrewshire. He had been stabbed around 12 times and his throat cut.

Detectives reckoned he had been murdered elsewhere and his body dumped in the farmers' field near the village of Langbank in Renfrewshire.

READ MORE: The Glasgow Crime Story of the murder of Martin Toner

 

Toner, 34, had been reported missing by his wife and had been due to appear at the High Court in Edinburgh on major cocaine smuggling charges.

Two men later stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow in March 2015 for his murder but both walked free.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes of Police Scotland said: “The death of Martin Toner is considered an unresolved murder and these cases are never closed by Police Scotland.

"Should any new information be received, detectives in our Homicide and Governance Review team will thoroughly assess this and investigate further, wherever necessary.

"Anyone who may have information about Martin's death is urged to contact Police Scotland via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

Toner ran a bin cleaning company and lived in Pollokshields in the Southside of Glasgow.

He was last seen on Tuesday, June 29, 2004, around 3pm in Langbank's Main Street.

Earlier that day he had been spotted at the Key To Life gym in Ashtree Road, Pollokshaws, Glasgow, 20 miles away.

Detectives had initially assumed Martin had gone on the run because of his forthcoming trial and the possibility of a lengthy jail term if convicted.

They now believe Martin was lured to a meeting by someone he knew and trusted, before being murdered.

His body was found on July 13, exactly two weeks after his murder.

Public appeals for information by the police and family members at the time elicited little response, despite the prospect of a £3000 reward.

Though they remained determined to catch his killer, detectives feared that the victim's links to organised crime were preventing the public from coming forward to help the murder investigation.

Former policeman Douglas Fleming, 50, was charged with Toner's murder in December 2013 and stood trial, 15 months later.

Fleming, who served as a Constable with Central Scotland Police from 1985 to 1988, had become a suspect after admitting that he gave Martin a lift to Langbank on the day he went missing.

He then dropped Mr Toner close to the railway station in Langbank and said that was the last he saw him.

At the end of the trial in April 2015 Fleming was cleared after the jury found the murder charge not proven.

Glasgow Times:

A murder charge against a second man had been dropped earlier in the proceedings.

Fleming had been previously cleared in 2008 of conspiracy to import cocaine to Scotland from Colombia, also on a not proven verdict.

Martin Toner had been due to stand trial with Mr Fleming on the same charges.

Fleming admitted knowing Toner, but said their common interest was property and denied having anything to do with drugs.

Glasgow Times:

The murder victim had vanished the day before a pre-trial hearing in Edinburgh over the cocaine charges.