Hitman Convicted of 'Gerbil' Supermarket Carpark Murder

A hitman has been jailed for life after being convicted of murder of gangland figure Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll which a judge described as an "execution in a public car park".

Thirty-five-year-old William Paterson was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow after almost three weeks of being on trial.

Paterson denied murdering Mr Carroll, 29, by gunning him down at the Asda car park in Robroyston, Glasgow, on January 13, 2010.

He claimed he was at his girlfriend Sarah Maguire's house in Linn Gardens, Cumbernauld at the time of the shooting but the jury rejected his alibi.

He was convicted of murder and a number of firearms charges.

Passing a minimum sentence of 22 years behind bars Judge Lord Armstrong told Paterson: "On the evidence this court has heard this murder appears to have been premeditated, planned carried out by you and others in the most calculated way.

"It was not a spontaneous event which happened in the spur of the moment, it was in effect an execution."

He said Carroll was murdered in the "most vicious and brutal" way.

The judge added that it was carried out in a public car park where "ordinary members of the public were going about their everyday business" and "put at risk of gunfire".

The trial heard Paterson's DNA was discovered on the handle of a Tesco bag that a gun used to assassinate Mr Carroll was found in.

And a phone expert showed that a mobile -which turned out to be Paterson's - was traced to the car park Asda seconds before the shooting at 1.23pm.

A phone call made to the phone at the crucial time placed him at the scene and was a "breakthrough" in the police investigation.

He is the first person to be convicted of murder charge after the trial of Ross Monaghan collapsed due to a lack of evidence in 2012.

Mr Paterson left Scotland for Spain on January 23, 2010, before suspicion fell on him and an international warrant was put out for his arrest in August that year.

He contacted lawyers in June 2014 and agreed to return to Scotland to face the charges against him.

The execution of gangland figure Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll shocked Scotland.

The assassination was carried out by two masked gunmen at lunchtime in the supermarket car park in front of shocked shoppers including women and children.

It is not known if Paterson was one of the gunmen, or driving the Volkswagen Golf that was traced from travelling Asda, to Coatbridge where the weapons were dumped under shrubbery.

The car was later found alight on a country road by a farmer in Glenmavis, North Lanarkshire.

The professional hit took just 25 seconds from start to finish and left Mr Carroll dead in the back of his black Audi A3 - riddled with 13 bullets.

One eyewitness shopper Emma Busby described seeing a "Clint Eastwood style gun" and was worried the gunmen would turn the weapon on those in Asda.

She told the jury she was "hysterical" when she went back inside adding: "I went in to the chemist and sat down and was sick.

"I had a drink of water and just remember lots of screaming and shouting."

Teacher Anne McIntosh from Stepps, told the court she had just loaded her car when she was aware of another car travelling fast which stopped a few cars up from where she was parked.

She said: "I happened to look up at that point and as the car stopped, masked gunmen came out of the car and with their pistols held in front of them, walked towards a car and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"I just started wondering what on earth is going on.

"Not long after the people got out of the car there was what I assume was gun fire."

She added: "I just crouched down, it was an automatic response."

Mr Carroll was described in court as "violent" by a former drug dealer, Steven Glen, who met him at the supermarket minutes before he was gunned down.

Mr Glen claimed met Mr Carroll and his two friends Stephen McLaggan and John Bonner outside Asda.

He said: "He came over to me, he was talking to me, I can't remember all the stuff he was asking me about, basically 'You're working for me now, anybody that doesn't fall in line is going to get banged'."

Prosecutor Iain McSporran asked what Mr Glen understood by that and he said "Shot".

The court heard that when Mr Glen went back to his car after the meeting and began to leave he heard "bangs and cracks".

He said: "I looked up there was a motor parked in front of the the motor Gerbil was in, it was two people shooting at it."

Mr Glen said the two people were firing into the car from either side when he drove off and denied knowing anything about the murder.

Mr Carroll is believed to have been behind a series of abductions.

Mr Glen described him as "violent" and said he had no choice, was so terrified he wouldn't return from the meeting, he asked a friend to come and watch from inside the shop.

Mr Carroll certainly had plenty of enemies. The High Court in Glasgow was read out a list of six names Mr Paterson claimed could have carried out the murder including Ross Monaghan, Victor Gallagher and Steven Glen.

He also claimed he had been at his girlfriend, Sarah Maguire's house in Linn Gardens, Cumbernauld at the time of the incident.

A search of the house after Paterson fled abroad revealed a bullet proof vest under the bed and police intelligence on a piece of paper found in a drawer.

On it it said "Kevin McCabe and Ross Sherlock believe Eddie Lyons Jnr and Victor Gallagher for shooting John Bonner" and "Bonner may not have been the target".

It also said "William Paterson stopped in Mercedes with cash to pay for wedding" and that Gerbil had been driven about in an orange Audi registerd to his partner Kelly Green - daughter of crime lord Jamie Daniel.

The names of a three police operations were also on the piece of paper as well as names of people believed to be "working for Gerbil".

And that "Daniel's family are responsible for fire raising of a property owned by Lyons".

Mr Carroll's former partner Miss Green gave evidence that he was a "loving partner and fantastic father". She denied knowing of any ill feeling between the Lyons and Daniels' families.

Miss Green said: "I got a message from him before this happened it just said 'I love you' then I got a phone call from one of my family members saying Kevin had been shot."

A massive police operation was set up following the shooting. Staff and customers at the store were interviewed along with gangland associates of Gerbil.

But the first breakthrough came with the finds of the two guns used to shoot Mr Carroll.

The weapons were discovered by a team of gardeners working in shrubbery behind Coatbridge Library on January 24, 2010 - 11 days after the shooting.

Mr Monaghan's DNA was found on the handle of one of the guns.

When Mr Paterson was returned from Spain, his DNA was taken and a DNA profile matching his, was discovered on the handle of a bag one of the guns was found in.

Ms Campbell said items were analysed and a report was compiled in 2014 using a DNA sample from Paterson. Tape was used to take a sample from the handle of a Tesco bag that a gun was found in, in January 2010, behind a library in Coatbridge.

The expert witness told the court: "The taping from the handle of the Tesco carrier bag was analysed and the DNA profile obtained matched the DNA profile of William Paterson."

The chances of it being anyone other than Paterson was more than one in one billion.

Cellsite data from a mobile phone used by Paterson on the day of the murder placed him in Asda after being in the Cumbernauld area.

He was then traced to Coatbridge where the guns were dumped and was back in Cumbernauld by 2.11pm - before the burnt out Volkswagen used in the crime was found burning in a country road in nearby Glenmavis.