My brother was dead and buried two years before police told us
INFORMER WAS INTERRED IN PAUPER’S GRAVE
The family of a police informer buried in a pauper’s grave only learned of his death almost two years after his body was found.
Brian Douglas was forced to flee his home after he betrayed a drugs gang by helping detectives.
The 50-year-old’s brothers Jimmie and Archie Douglas have condemned authorities for failing to notify them when he died from an overdose in February 2019.
They are demanding to know why they had to discover through an English police force that their brother had passed away and was buried in Scotland without their knowledge.
Brian was placed on witness protection after he turned in a notorious Ayrshire crime group.
Jimmie, 63, was tipped off that his brother, a low-level drug dealer and heroin addict, was to be petrolbombed for passing on information.
Police relocated Brian to Port Glasgow, where he remained until his body was found in a flat.
Jimmie said: “Brian was no angel, he’d been in and out of trouble for years, but he didn’t deserve to be treated this way and neither do we.
“He kept in touch with our other brother Archie in England and he sent him money, so at least we knew he was alive. Brian was on witness protection and there had been threats to his life. I have concerns about the circumstances of Brian’s death. I had kept in touch with him since he went into witness protection. I went to Police Scotland and reported that I was concerned but it was Surrey Police who told me he died in 2019.
“Police Scotland should have been able to find us as next of kin within 10 minutes. They’ve come up with loads of guff about not being able to find us. They couldn’t tell me where he was buried or how he had died.
“They buried him within a few weeks. It’s bizarre. I made two complaints to Police Scotland which they didn’t uphold.”
Brian was born in England when the family moved south in the 60s.
When his parents returned to Ayrshire in the 80s, he followed a short time later. He’d already been involved with drugs and his family battled to get him clean. Jimmie added: “We did our best to keep him out of trouble. I gave him jobs and warned him about the kind of people he was getting involved with but he didn’t listen.
“He was arrested for dealing in 2012 as part of a big police operation and I think he realised at that time the direction he was heading in.”
The family contacted police in December after losing touch with Brian but they didn’t receive an update on his wellbeing.
Archie turned to his local police in Surrey for help. They made contact with Police Scotland and discovered that Brian was dead and buried.
Jimmie said: “Brian was involved in the drugs scene, he was known to polpolice. They were the oneones who placed him at that address. They knew whewhere he’d come from. He aalso had a Facebook page and Archie put monmoney into his bank accoaccount. They surely could have traced family that wway. It just seems that becaubecause he was a drug addict no one cared.” PolicPolice said Brian was not on any “police programme” at the timet of his death. They added: “We were unable tot trace any next of kin to aadvise of the death in FebruFebruary 2019, despite signi f icantic effort f rom officers anda a partner agency. WesubsequentlyrWesubsequentlyreceived a complaint in December 2020 from the family. Inquir ies took place and the complainer received a response earlier this month.”
Archie said: “Brian was arrested regarding a police operation. He was cooperating with police when there was a threat to life to him. They relocated him due to the threat and he was 100 per cent in their witness protection programme.
“He was not allowed to contact us when they relocated him to Port Glasgow. He said the police were always hounding him to get them more information as an informer in the community he had been moved to. There is something very wrong.”
Family did not know that witness protection grass had overdosed It seems because he was an addict no one cared