Findlay looks back fondly on victory in gangland trial that shocked nation
BY STUART MacDONALD TOP QC Donald Findlay says getting Paul Ferris cleared of a notorious gangland murder was his finest courtroom moment.
Ferris, recruited as an enforcer for crime lord Arthur Thompson when he was still in his teens, stood trial in 1992 accused of gunning down Thompson’s son, Arthur jnr, the year before.
But with Findlay as his counsel in a marathon three-month trial, he was sensationally acquitted of murder, drug trafficking, conspiracy and gun possession.
Asked to name his favourite case, Findlay, 69, said the Ferris trial “had everything”.
He explained: “It had virtually all the great characters of Glasgow.
“Young Arthur was dead, his father was a witness, Ferris was regarded by the police as the heir apparent to Arthur Thompson senior.
“We had supergrasses – it just had everything going for it. I forget how many charges there were but Ferris walked on each and every one of them.”
The key evidence came from a man called Dennis Woodman, a “supergrass” who had testified in several English trials.
He claimed Ferris had confessed while in the segregation unit at Barlinnie jail. But Findlay said Ferris’s performance in the witness box helped win over the jury. In an interview with advocate Edith Forrest for law website Hey Legal, he said: “He was in the witness box for a week and he was terrific.
“It was a terrific case because of all these legendary characters. So many of the witnesses were also people of legend at the time in and around the Glasgow underworld.”
Findlay has also defended serial killer Peter Tobin and Luke Mitchell, who murdered girlfriend Jodi Jones, 14.