A man who claimed to be a vigilante and had identified as “evil Jesus” has been found guilty of plotting to kill a prosecutor.
Martin Ready, 41, was convicted of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty, 37, by setting up cryptocurrency accounts, using a site on the dark web, paying £5,071.24 in Bitcoin, and instructing Mr Harty be shot and where he could be found.
The plotting was said to have occurred between 29 May 2021 and 15 September 2022.
Ready denied the charge and lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
He was found guilty after giving evidence claiming he planned the murder to expose organised crime in Coatbridge.
The court heard the men knew each other from a pub owned by Mr Harty’s family in the North Lanarkshire town.
Ready claimed he believed he was “Jesus” in autumn 2021, and suffered a relapse in January 2022 when he believed he was “evil Jesus”.
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He said: “At the time, I genuinely believed I was Jesus and that the actions I took were to expose the criminality I had been subjected to.”
Ready said he knew “murder is illegal”, adding: “At the time I was genuinely delusional and believed this was the right course of action.”
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Ready said he chose Mr Harty because of his connection with the pub, rather than due to personal issues.
He said: “I felt that if Darren had been killed it would turn on his links to organised crime.”
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The court heard Ready’s father believed he was “paranoid” and he had spent time in a psychiatric ward in Wishaw after alleging an abduction attempt was carried out by a named family in 2020.
Giving evidence, the accused said he had sold drugs for the family between 2007 and 2010 while studying law.
Ready told the court he believed he had been “jagged with a canine GPS tracker” by his own brother, but an X-ray of his right arm showed nothing.
Ready also told the court he had seen bedbugs “streaming down the walls” of his flat after supposedly being posted through a letterbox.
He claimed his motivation by plotting the murder on the dark web – which was exposed by a documentary maker – was to reveal “money washing” which he alleged was happening at the pub.
Mr Harty gave evidence on the first day of the trial and said money laundering was “absolutely not” happening at the pub, where he worked around a decade ago while at university.
He said he remembered Ready as he was teetotal and would order coffee, which was “irritating” due to how busy the pub was.
Ready claimed being remanded at HMP Barlinnie after the murder plot was exposed in September 2022 improved his mental health as it got him out of Coatbridge.
The case was adjourned for background reports, with Ready returned to custody ahead of his sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh on 24 October.
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Image: Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Image: Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Image: Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
Roman Lavrynovych appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday and was remanded in custody.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command led the investigation because of the connections to the prime minister.
Emergency services were called to a fire in the early hours of Monday at a house in Kentish Town, north London, where Sir Keir lived with his family before the election.