Flash drug dealer facing ‘bling’ blow
A FLASH drug dealer described as the “ringleader” of a gang which plotted to flood Scotland with hard drugs faces having his collection expensive designer watches and Armani suits confiscated by the Crown.
Anthony O’Hare, 33, has been served with a serious organised crime demand which means all his ill-gotten gains – including vehicles, property and cash – can be seized under Scotland’s proceeds of crime laws.
O’Hare and two of his accomplices are facing lengthy jail sentences after being caught trying to distribute £500,000 of heroin and cocaine in a Scotland-wide operation he masterminded.
They were due to be sentenced at the High Court in Livingston yesterday but the case had to be postponed until next month.
One of O’Hare’s co-accused Martin Hamilton suffers from kidney disease and needs a guarantee of his human right to get specialist dialysis treatment in prison.
Solicitor advocate Billy Lavelle, defending, highlighted Hamilton’s “special medical needs” and submitted a medical report to the court, apologising for its lack of detail.
He said Hamilton had been suspended from the kidney transplant waiting list but still needed frequent dialysis to remove waste products and excess fluid from his blood because his kidneys did not work properly.
Judge Lady Scott described the medical report as “a bit vague” adding: “I’d like to see more detail so that I get a picture of the prognosis in general terms.
“I’ll order the clerk to write to the prison service in respect of what they say about arrangements.”
O’Hare, 33, earlier pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both Class ‘A’ drugs, directing others to commit a serious offence and being in possession of £41,250 of dirty money.
Hamilton, 50, admitted the same drugs charges while William Scott, 41, confessed to cocaine supply.
As part of a series of raids on O’Hare and two of his associates police found £41,250 in cash after searching his home in Loch Road, Stepps, North Lanarkshire, and in a black Ford Transit van.
All of the assets recovered will be treated as “criminal property” and confiscated by the Crown.
O’Hare was said to have played a directing role in issuing instructions to Hamilton and, at least, one instruction to Scott.
Hundreds of texts between them “painted a clear picture” of a large-scale drug distribution operation, including details of house numbers and post codes of the addresses where consignments were to be delivered.
The only drugs seized were found in a car outside Hamilton’s home in the city’s Ruchazie.
Scott, from Carntyne, admitted being involved in a delivery of cocaine in Glasgow.
O’Hare and his co-accused will now be sentenced at Glasgow High Court next month.