BULGARIAN HITMAN FOUND DEAD IN CELL
Club owner hired him to kill brother
A HITMAN who arranged for a businessman to be murdered has been found dead in jail.
Bulgarian Deyan Nikolov was hired by nightclub boss Mo Siddique to arrange the killing of his brother Mohammed Nadeem Siddique, known as Toby, following a dispute.
Nikolov, 33, instructed fellow Bulgarian Tencho Andonov to shoot Toby, 38, in a flat in Forres Drive, Glenrothes, on October 24, 2010.
Nikolov was given an 18-year minimum sentence in 2012 but was angered the following year when his sentence was increased to 23 years at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh.
His body was discovered in his cell at Glenochil Prison, near Alloa, on Monday. The prison are investigating the circumstances.
A source said: “It’s a mystery how this came about but Nikolov was not happy when he got another five years put on his sentence.
“He thought it was harsh because he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger.”
The four-month trial of Nikolov, Siddique and gunman Andonov was one of the longest murder trials in recent Scottish history.
At one stage, about 80 of the former Fife Constabulary’s 1400 staff were involved in the investigation, which cost more than £1.4million.
The trial heard Toby was lured to a flat with the promise of contraband cigarettes and alcohol after the brothers fell out over the family business.
He was shot in the face, and again as he lay on the ground.
Siddique, 44, was jailed for a minimum of 25 years and Andonov, 34, locked up for 29 years, later reduced to 27.
The Scottish Prison Service yesterday confirmed the death in custody and said it had been reported to police and the procurator fiscal.