Oz tycoon guilty over hit on Scot
BY STUART MacDONALD A MILLIONAIRE property developer was found guilty yesterday of ordering the murder of his Scots former business partner in Australia.
Ron Medich is facing a life sentence after arranging for Michael McGurk to be shot dead outside his Sydney home after their relationship soured.
Michael, 45, who grew up in Glasgow’s Gorbals and moved to Australia in the early 90s, was killed by a single bullet to the head in front of his young son in September 2009.
Medich, 70, denied murdering the father of four and intimidating his widow Kimberley the next year. But jurors found him guilty on both charges.
Medich, who paid £270,000 to have the hit carried out, will be sentenced at a later date.
Outside the New South Wales Supreme Court, Kimberley said: “The damage to my family will never be repaired but the result today will allow my family to move forward.”
Medich asked ex-boxing champ Fortunato “Lucky” Gattellari to arrange the murder. He received a discounted jail sentence after agreeing to give evidence against Medich.
Haissam Safetli, 51, who is thought to have fired the fatal shot, was jailed for seven years. BY WILMA RILEY A SAVAGE gang were convicted yesterday of murdering a dad using knives, a machete, a sword, a chain, a hammer and a crowbar.
A jury found John Henderson, 47, Gary Martin, 37, Thomas Martin, 45, James Connor, 52, and Dean Leech, 25, guilty of murdering Gary Clampett in Fraserburgh on June 18 last year.
Joseph Martin, 40, was convicted of the reduced charge of culpable homicide.
All of the accused were convicted on the basis of acting in concert with Henderson, who stabbed Gary.
David Graham, 46, walked free from court after the jury found the case against him not proven.
Gary, 39, died from massive blood loss after being stabbed twice in the chest.
His widow Sharon, who described her late husband as her soulmate, sobbed as his killers were brought to justice.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Beckett sentenced Henderson, Gary Martin, Thomas Martin, Connor and Leech to life imprisonment.
He ordered them to serve a minimum of 18 years, 20 years, 16 years, 14 years and 11 months and 16 years and nine months respectively.
Joseph Martin was jailed for 12 years.
The judge told Gary Martin: “I consider you were the leader of this armed expedition by car.”
Lord Beckett said that Henderson was the man who stabbed Gary but added: “He could not have done this without the group overpowering Mr Clampett.”
He also said: “I recognise that Gary Clampett was not blameless that night.”
The judge praised efforts by Sharon and her friend Rena Sutherland to help Gary as “selfless and courageous”.
All six accused showed no emotion as they were led away to begin their sentences.
The court heard the gang were out looking for Gary after an incident earlier that evening, which led to threats on Facebook.
The vicious attack took place in the town’s Fernie Place at about 4am after the gang arrived by car.
The incident was the latest in a long-running feud between the Clampetts and the Martins.
Gary’s blood was found on a top and trainer belonging to Joseph Martin and on a cap belonging to Thomas Martin.
Thomas Martin’s DNA was also found in nail clippings taken from Gary’s right hand.
During the melee, Henderson stabbed Gary twice with a knife. He managed to walk to his brother-inlaw’s house nearby, where he collapsed in the kitchen.
Henderson, who confessed to a family member after he