Killer’s phone leads detectives to ‘gold mine’ of gang information
Mobile phones recovered during the investigation into the murder of Bradley Welsh could lead to the downfall of some of the biggest criminal gangs in Scotland.
One phone was taken from Sean Orman, 30, by detectives and another he had attempted to destroy was recovered.
Orman was jailed for a minimum of 28 years yesterday for murdering Welsh, 48, by shooting him in the head with a shotgun outside his home in Edinburgh’s West End on 17 April, 2019, and attempting to murder one of his associates. David Mcmillan, 50, survived a machete attack at his home in Pitcairn Grove, Edinburgh, on 13 March, 2019.
Orman had denied carrying out the £10,000 contract hit on Mr Welsh, insisting he was elsewhere at the time, and denied the attack on Mr Mcmillan.
But during his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh it emerged in evidence that he had admitted having “encro” messages on his phone – a reference to Encrochat, encrypted messages which have been used by crime gang bosses to co-ordinate drug deals, beatings and murders.
Law enforcement agencies, including Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency, are studying encrypted messages which are believed to name the major players on the Edinburgh drug scene.
It is understood that Orman also had access to an encrypted phone while in Shotts Prison in Lanarkshire.
Sources say detectives have
already gleaned enough information from the phones to implicatethementheybelieve largely control the cocaine, crack and heroin trade in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
The data recovered has also revealed links to the Lyons and Daniel crime clans in Glasgow, one other major gang and to the current “Mr Big” – who lives in Midlothian and who is attempting to oversee an uneasy coalition of criminals who are raking in thousands of
pounds daily from drugs.
A senior detective said: “When Orman was pulled after a car chase he basically burst, blurting out his phone had encro on it. We later found another phone he had used. He had tried to smash it and hide it but it was recovered too.
“The phones are a gold mine of information. Gangsters and their organised crime group members thought they were impervious using encrypted phones but that’s all over now.
“Our colleagues on the National Crime Agency created the tech to crack the system and it has led to thousands of arrests around the world. We are now looking at individuals in Scotland, some at liberty and others already incarcerated. ”
Orman was convicted and sentenced on the 12th day of the trial after denying all the charges against him.
Jailing him, judge Lord Beckett said: “To shoot an unarmed
man as he approached his own house was a cowardly and was a wicked thing to do. His partner and young child were inside as you ended his life, apparently in the expectation of payment.” It is believed that the £10,000 contract is closely linked to a long-running feud between two rival Edinburgh gangs which have very close ties to their counterparts in Glasgow.