Criminals claim £60k over prison dental work
A BENEFITS fraudster has teamed up with murderers and armed robbers to launch a £60,000 legal action over claims they did not get proper dental treatment behind bars.
Anthony Kearney, 49, is suing the Scottish Prison Service, NHS Lanarkshire and the Scottish Government over time he spent in Shotts Prison, in Lanarkshire.
Kearney is claiming £15,000 in his civil action that is due to call at Hamilton Sheriff Court next year.
Legal papers have already been lodged with the court but the case has been postponed to allow lawyers more time to probe the claims.
He has been joined in his cash-grab by convicted killers Brian Venuti and Thomas Meiklem, and serial armed raider William Carlin, who are each also seeking £15,000.
Labour MSP Graeme Pearson said: ‘More than a year ago I specifically asked this SNP government if the transfer of responsibility for medical services for prisoners to the NHS would continue to result in a service fit for purpose and I was given assurances it would.
‘ I trust therefore that Michael Matheson, the new Cabinet Secretary for Justice, will be able to resist this claim with ease.’
A spokesman for campaign group Taxpayers Scotland said: ‘ We think all taxpayers would back the courts and the SPS if they simply threw this case out. It’s simply wrong for these convicted men to be allowed to waste our money on this. They should be ignored.’
In January 2010, Kearney was jailed for two years at Glasgow Sheriff Court. He was ordered to pay back nearly £1million under the Proceeds of Crime Act after being caught
‘They should be ignored’
running a housing benefits scam with his lover Donna McCafferty.
He fraudulently claimed £930,362 and McCafferty was told to return £13,003.
The couple absconded to Spain after being charged but they were tracked down after featuring in a Crimestoppers appeal.
Venuti was jailed for life in 2004 after he killed Scotland fan Liam Henderson by driving at high speed into a group of Tartan Army fans near Hampden Park.
Venuti, of Rutherglen, was also convicted of the attempted murder of a second fan.
Also trying for cash is Meiklem, who was given a life sentence for drowning his neighbour in her bath.
Meiklem murdered 41- year- old Jannette Cooper in Maryhill, Glasgow, before he and his girlfriend tried to cover up the crime by setting fire to their block of flats.
Serial armed robber Carlin was jailed last year after he was caught with a security box containing £40,000 at Sainsbury’s in Prestwick , Ayrshire.
An SPS spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individual prisoners.’