Glasgow Crime Stories: the 1990s hitman known as 'Mad Jock'

Small in size he did not give off the impression of being particularly hard.

But anyone who underestimated him did so at their peril.

Ian McAteer was a prominent figure in the Glasgow and Merseyside criminal underworld during the 1990s having risen through the ranks.

When he stood trial for murder in 2001, McAteer, then 39, was said to be the boss of a Liverpool-based crime gang which planned to flood Scotland with ecstasy and heroin.

He was also described at the time as “one of Scotland’s most feared gangsters” and “extremely dangerous”.

Though born in Dalmuir he spent much of his early life in Easterhouse in the north east of Glasgow and later Drumchapel.

His criminal career began around 1979, when he started to forge links with major criminal figures in Glasgow and Liverpool.

He also reportedly became involved in arms trafficking, debt collection, protection and the used car business.

Not surprisingly, McAteer, given his reputation, was also said to have worked as a hitman.

In 1993, he first came to public attention when he was arrested in possession of a consignment of drugs.

He represented himself at the High Court in Glasgow later that year, where he was sentenced to five years behind bars.

While incarcerated at HMP Glenochil, near Falkirk, he encountered another Glasgow crime figure, John Bennett.

In February 1998, following both McAteer and Bennett’s release from prison, the latter was killed in a daylight attack on Glasgow’s Royston Road, suffering 57 stab wounds.

Bennett, who was from Barmulloch, died in the city’s Royal Infirmary after the attack.

The murder victim had only left prison three months earlier after serving a sentence for drugs and firearms offences.

McAteer and two other men stood trial for the murder at the High Court in Glasgow later that year.

It was claimed that McAteer had previously put out a contract on Bennett while they were both in prison, offering drugs and tobacco to any inmate who killed him.

The jury was told shoppers ran screaming as 26-year-old Bennett was viciously attacked in front of them by three men.

Bennett’s 27-year-old partner claimed she saw McAteer and the two other men kill him.

The girlfriend, a protected police witness, gave evidence for the prosecution for almost two days.

However, the murder charge against the three accused was found not proven by a majority verdict.

No motive was given in court for Bennett’s death.

However, police believe his death could have been an execution ordered by drug barons to whom he owed money.

In 1998, McAteer was arrested in Merseyside on suspicion of shooting a man at a set of traffic lights in Glasgow.

The incident had happened only a short distance from the site of the Bennett murder.

He however avoided another High Court trial when the victim refused to make a formal complaint to the police.

In 1999 the justice system finally caught up with McAteer following the murder of Merseyside drug dealer Warren Selkirk.

McAteer had also met the Liverpudlian while in prison.

On October 30, 1999, Selkirk was shot five times at point blank range – four times in the head and once in the chest – at Crosby Marina in Crosby, north of Liverpool.

A plastic bag filled with dog excrement – said to be a sign of “contempt” – was found in his right hand.

At the time police said that a .25 calibre gun was used, which would have fitted inside the palm of a hand without being noticed.

McAteer was identified as a prime suspect and armed police arrested him.

In early 2001 he and a second man stood trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

In the run up to the trial, threats were said to have been made against potential witnesses including police officers.

At least two criminals were given new identities under the witness protection program in return for their evidence.

On April 5, 2001 at Liverpool Crown Court, McAteer was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life.

He was given a separate five-year term for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A Liverpool associate received a four-year sentence for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, by asking a witness to provide McAteer with a false alibi.

A second man from Glasgow who stood trial alongside McAteer was found not guilty of murder and walked free from court.

Before sentencing McAteer, trial judge Mr Justice Grigson told him: “It is plain this was a cold-blooded execution and the execution of a man who trusted you.”

Selkirk is believed to have been murdered over a gambling debt.

McAteer however told the court that he was not a drug dealer and did not shoot Selkirk.

He said that he had made the trip to Merseyside on the day of Selkirk’s murder to visit a girlfriend.

It was also claimed that Loyalists had killed Selkirk because he had been selling guns and drugs to a Republican splinter group.

However, police later labelled the claims as a red herring. 

Following McAteer’s conviction, a senior detective from the then Strathclyde Police said he had watched McAteer progress from a troublesome youth on the streets of Glasgow to a highly dangerous, professional criminal. 

The detective, who asked not to be named, said: “We were delighted when we heard that Merseyside Police had got him out of our hair. We couldn’t catch him, but Merseyside have done it for us.”

Six months later McAteer received an additional 16-year sentence at a separate court hearing – for plotting to supply ecstasy and heroin.

In December 2003, McAteer was refused permission to appeal his murder conviction.

Following a 2006 review of the case at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, a judge ruled that McAteer must serve a minimum of 22-and-a-half years before being considered for parole – backdated to the time of his arrest.

Over the years McAteer has maintained his innocence of Selkirk’s murder.

In his 2005 book Vendetta, former career criminal turned author Paul Ferris suggested police had pinned the murder on McAteer.

He argued that a jealous associate – whose ex-girlfriend had been in a relationship with McAteer – provided false testimony in return for having a serious criminal charge dropped.

This was a claim which was also heard at McAteer’s failed appeal.

Ferris concluded that Selkirk was killed by Irish criminals due to unpaid debts.

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.”

In the years after his conviction McAteer arranged to be moved to prison in Scotland.

In 2011, he raised £3776 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 Bennett who still blamed McAteer for her brother’s murder.

McAteer, now 49, and another major underworld figure, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were photographed handing over a cheque to the children’s hospital.

Josephine Bennett, from Springburn, who gave evidence at McAteer’s trial, said she was shocked when she saw the photograph of McAteer.

She said: “It turned my stomach to see McAteer’s face. It’s a con for the Parole Board.

“Everyone knows he was behind [his] death.”

A prison officer helped McAteer and the other prisoner train for the run which took them four hours 40 minutes.

He said at the time: “They did really well and were pleased to have raised so much for Yorkhill, which is a fantastic place.

“Now they want to do it again, probably for a different charity, so I’ll be working out a new training programme for them.”

A recent podcast titled All or Nothing by reformed Liverpool criminal Billy Moore described how he got to known McAteer in prison when they had adjoining cells.

Moore said: “I have been in prison with some really bad people.

“Ian did not look intimidating, but I found out how dangerous he was.

“This small man was feared across Glasgow and part of the UK.

“Never judge a book by its cover. It doesn’t matter how big you are.”