Daily Record

FITZY THE MOBSTER SADIST

Crime gang hardman exposed as Army bully who terrorised and abused new recruits

- BRUTAL Martyn Fitzsimmon­s STEPHEN STEWART

A MOBSTER facing jail as part of a feared crime network was also a sadistic Army bully who terrorised recruits.

The brutal past of “evil” former Argylls lance-corporal Martyn Fitzsimmon­s, 37, has been exposed by former comrades.

They revealed they knew to give him a wide

berth – and how the Army taught him the covert operations skills which he used to try to stay ahead of the police in his underworld activities.

His gang’s hi-tech equipment made them the “most sophistica­ted” mob ever seen by Scots detectives, a court was told.

Fitzsimmon­s, 37, was remanded in custody this month after admitting guns and dirty money charges.

He had been charged with the attempted gun murder of a man outside a Glasgow primary school.

But his plea of not guilty to that charge was accepted.

He and eight other men, who admitted charges including torture and were also remanded in custody, will be sentenced next month.

A court heard they had dealings in drugs, firearms, violence and dirty money.

Now, the Record can reveal that “Fitzy” served alongside special forces soldiers from the SAS and SBS in Bosnia and was trained in the use of hi-tech surveillan­ce gear – similar to the kit discovered by police when they smashed his gang.

Forces sources said Fitzsimmon­s, from Clydebank, was the scourge of his barracks in Canterbury before he was drummed out of the Army and jailed in 2008 for stealing explosives.

An insider said: “Everyone knew he was bad news and did their best to keep away from him if they had any sense.

“He would make the lives of recruits a misery by beasting them about the place. He was a tough guy.

“He had a real reputation as a bully in the Army, and used to terrorise any new guys joining the battalion.

“The young ones would live in fear of him. Fitzy, even in his younger days, was not a man to be messed with.

“He was actually a decent soldier as well but that couldn’t stop him sliding into a life of crime.

“You would see him snarling and bashing recruits about the place and you could see in his face that he was evil.

“A lot of people in the Army would have been well and truly glad to see the back of him.”

He also served with the specialist Close Observatio­n Platoon and worked alongside elite special forces soldiers.

A source said: “He was good at his job but he obviously took a wrong turn in life. He must have mixed with the wrong crowd when home on leave and that’s how he ended up stealing ammo and suchlike to make money.

“Since being booted out the forces, he has clearly reverted to crime. The police images showed some sophistica­ted surveillan­ce kit and Fitzy would have the knowledge to use this type of equipment from his time in the Close Observatio­n Platoon.

“In that unit, we worked with special forces while out in Bosnia, mostly SBS guys with some SAS elements.”

Fitzsimmon­s would have gone through rigorous training to become part of the Close Observatio­n Platoon, which ceased to operate in 2007 with the end of British Army operations in Northern Ireland.

Originally establishe­d in 1977, they provided static covert observatio­n in support of the police throughout the province.

An Army document states: “The COPs were selected from the battalions’ best men and they operated in extreme and dangerous conditions. Due to the necessary veil of secrecy which shrouded all covert operations, their successes often went unheralded.”

In 2008, Fitzsimmon­s was jailed for 12 years, alongside two other soldiers for a plot to sell Army explosives from their Canterbury barracks to criminal gangs.

Trial judge Mr Justice Akenhead said the men had “betrayed their country” in stealing a cache of arms to sell to drug lords. He called for an Army inquiry to find out how they were able to stockpile the weapons.

The trial at Maidstone Crown Court heard they planned to transport detonators, flares, smoke grenades and munitions to some of Glasgow’s most notorious criminals.

Fitzsimmon­s was convicted of conspiring to possess explosives and conspiracy to dishonestl­y undertake or assist in the retention, removal, disposal or realisatio­n of stolen goods.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Akenhead said: ‘You must have known or been aware that these would be sold to criminal gangs in Glasgow and would have been used for criminal purposes and that these weapons could have fallen into the hands of groups committed to harming people in this country.”

Fitzsimmon­s showed his violent side in 2001 when, as a 20-year-old soldier, he smashed a beer glass into another man’s face.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard the vicious and unprovoked attack by Fitzsimmon­s left victim Adlai Senussi with three cuts and two broken teeth.

Fitzsimmon­s dodged a jail sentence in a bid to save his military career.

He was ordered to carry out 300 hours community service and pay his victim £2000. But he now faces a lengthy jail sentence for his role in the crime gang behind a horror abduction.

There was also a gun discharged at the family home of a gangland figure and a massive arsenal of weapons found hidden in a car.

Along with Fitzsimmon­s, David Sell, 50, Barry O’Neill, 37, Anthony Woods, 44, Francis Mulligan, 41, Michael Bowman, 30, Mark Richardson 30, Gerard Docherty, 42, Steven McArdle, 33, pled guilty to various charges at the High Court in Glasgow.

Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC told the court they were caught after a major consignmen­t of firearms was found during one operation.

The court also heard how drug dealer Robert Allan became a target of the gang. Sell admitted being involved in his abduction and torture.

Allan met O’Neill in March 2013 in Glasgow’s west end in connection with a £45,000 cocaine haul.

But Allan later complained about the quality of the drugs and it was agreed with a member of the crime clan he could return some of the drugs – but had to pay £30,000.

When he was unable to find the cash, Allan fled Scotland for Barnsley in Yorkshire, but was hunted down by the gang in March 2015.

Sell turned up at his door with two other armed men then sat on a couch beside the victim and pointed a handgun at him. Allan had his chest, arms and ankle bound together with a chain leaving him unable to move.

The victim was then taken to an industrial unit in Fauldhouse, Midlothian, where he was punched and kicked at gunpoint.

He was whipped with a thick chain, smacked with a metal bar and left with a broken leg after being battered with a 14lb sledgehamm­er.

Allan’s captors later transporte­d to him a rural spot near East Kilbride, Lanarkshir­e.

He was blasted with a gun twice in one knee and once in the other before being dumped out of a vehicle on to a roadside verge.

He was a decent soldier but it couldn’t stop him sliding into a life of crime ARMY SOURCE

 ??  ?? SOLDIER Fitzsimmon­s, left, from a 2005 group photo, below. Above, his mug shot
SOLDIER Fitzsimmon­s, left, from a 2005 group photo, below. Above, his mug shot
 ??  ?? MOBSTER Fitzsimmon­s
MOBSTER Fitzsimmon­s
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 ??  ?? FEARSOME Then lance-corporal Fitzsimmon­s bawls out an Iraqi army recruit. Sources in the forces say that other soldiers lived in fear of him and tried to avoid him if possible
FEARSOME Then lance-corporal Fitzsimmon­s bawls out an Iraqi army recruit. Sources in the forces say that other soldiers lived in fear of him and tried to avoid him if possible

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