Man offered £50,000 to fit tracking device on taxi boss

Steven Daniel was left with multiple deep wounds as well as fractures after an attack in May 2017

A man has claimed he was offered £50,000 to help kill a member of an alleged crime family.

Alistair McMillan was an associate of ex-taxi firm boss Steven Daniel.

Mr McMillan said he was told of a planned attack on Mr Daniel, 39, at a secret meeting with three men in Paisley garden.

He was giving evidence at the trial of six men accused of being part of the Lyons criminal gang, which is said to have targeted the rival Daniel clan.

The accusations include a string of attempted murders over a 15-month period.

The witness told the High Court in Glasgow he was asked to put a "tracker" device on Mr Daniel.

But Mr McMillan, 43, told jurors he later got himself deliberately arrested so as not to take part.

Secret meeting

Mr Daniel ended up with serious facial wounds when he was set upon after a 100mph car chase in May 2017.

Earlier that year Mr McMillan was asked to go to the home of a man he knew, who lived in the Paisley area.

He went on to meet three men he had never met before.

The court heard he knew two were called Fergie and Victor but was not aware of the name of the third.

Mr McMillan and the men then went into the garden as they were "scared anyone was listening".

Prosecutor Paul Kearney asked: "What did they say?"

He replied: "They knew my connection to Steven and basically they wanted me to let them know where he would be at certain times.

"It was Fergie who was doing most of the talking.

"They were looking for me to place Steven and that I would be looked after."

Asked what was meant by place, Mr McMillan replied: "It was a tracking device...place it on his car."

'Do him harm'

The witness was quizzed on whether he challenged the men as to why they wanted this done.

Mr McMillan: "It was obvious that they were going to do him some harm.

"It was blunt..short and sweet. No airs or graces about it.

"They wanted me to place Steven. They wanted him murdered."

Six men deny being part of the Lyons criminal gang which is said to have targeted the rival Daniel clan

The witness told the jury he "played along" with the plot.

Asked what would happen next, he replied: "Basically if I placed him, I would get £50,000."

Mr McMillan claimed he was given an encrypted phone to message those involved.

He told the jury he went on to have a number of meetings with Andrew Gallacher, 40, one of the men on trial.

These mainly took place at a bar in Glasgow's Shawlands area.

Mr McMillan said he was originally paid £500 at a time which was then reduced to £350.

False information

He added that he passed on false information he had gleaned from the papers or the internet.

Mr McMillan was later due to join Mr Daniel on a trip to London and this is when he believed he was expected to put the tracker on him.

But, in early May 2017, before the journey south, Mr McMillan got himself deliberately arrested after a road traffic incident in front of watching police in Glasgow's Easterhouse.

Detectives seized the tracker device and seven mobile phones he had on him.

Mr McMillan told the jury he did not want Mr Daniel to come to any harm.

The former taxi-boss ended up being attacked close to the on-ramp of the M8 motorway in the city's Port Dundas on 18 May, 2017.

Gallacher, Robert Pickett, 53, Brian Ferguson, 37, John Hardie, 35, Andrew Sinclair, 32, and Peter Bain, 45, deny charges.

It is alleged they targeted Ryan Fitzsimmons, Thomas Bilsland, Gary Petty, Robert Daniel, and Steven Daniel.

The trial continues.