Gangster in plot to raid jewels store dies in jail

Akey member of a criminal gang that plotted an elaborate jewellery heist at a St Andrews golf resort has died in Perth Prison.

Paul Hogwood was part of a seven-man group that targeted the Mappin & Webb shop at the Old Course Hotel in 2015.

They bought weapons, carried out a reconnoitre of the shop and stole two speedy Italian scooters to use as getaway vehicles.

But, unknown to the raiders, police had been watching them for some time and moved in to make arrests shortly before the crime could take place.

The Scottish Prison Service has confirmed that Hogwood, who received the longest sentence of the gang, died at HMP Perth. He was 60.

Police Scotland has been informed and the death will be reported to the procurator fiscal. A prison service spokesman said a fatal accident inquiry would be held.

It is understood that Londoner Hogwood, described in court as a “career criminal”, died of natural causes. His death was not coronavirus related.

He had been serving a 10year sentence. During the trial at the High Court in Paisley, the court was told Hogwood made a telephone call while on remand and said: “If they had turned up 10 minutes later, they would have caught us right in the act.”

Officers had spotted four of the London-based gang when they were in the Fife town a week before the planned raid, the court heard.

One of the men, Glaswegian Kevin Mulheron, was described by Judge John Morris QC as the “Scottish contact” for the gang who had “provided the Scottish base of operations”.

The men used his brother’s flat in Govan to finalise plans for the robbery, the court heard.

Police Scotland said the men were all part of a gang the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad believed were responsible for a series of smash-and-grab robberies in London.

Detectives from the Met liaised with their counterparts in Scotland after establishing the men planned to travel north and commit a similar crime.

The group were monitored in a “major surveillance operation” from the moment they entered Scotland, police said.

The SPS also confirmed the death of a 53-year-old inmate at HMP Castle Huntly, near Dundee.

Serial domestic abuser Andrew Hutcheson was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Dundee Sheriff Court in 2017.

He had subjected three women to a litany of abuse spanning more than 15 years. One victim had a knife held to her throat in front of her children on Christmas Day.

Another was subjected to months of threats – with

Hutcheson even sending multiple messages to her work, threatening to blow up the shop she worked in.

A third – who was recovering from breast cancer at the time – had a knife held to her throat as Hutcheson told her “that’s where I got that guy, right there,” while he claimed to have murdered someone

with a blade. A sheriff told Hutcheson his crimes were “utterly deplorable”.

The prison service confirmed a fatal accident inquiry would be held to determine Hutcheson’s cause of death. It is understood he died in hospital, but his death was also not coronavirus related.

STAKED OUT: The Mappin & Webb jewellery store at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews was targeted by the London and Glasgow-based criminals.

Paul Hogwood was jailed for 10 years for the crime.