Home of murdered gangster Kevin Carroll seized by scottish ministers

May 30 2012 By Joe McGuire

THE home of a gangland figure gunned down in a supermarket car park has been seized by the authorities.

Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll was killed as he sat in a car outside Asda in Robroyston in January 2010.

A man who was on trial accused of his murder was cleared earlier this month after the case against him collapsed.

The Crown Office said Carroll’s house in Lennoxtown was being recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act and would be sold.

Scottish ministers sought to recover property belonging to Carroll’s estate, which was said to have been obtained “through his involvement in organised crime, violence, drug dealing and his obtaining of mortgages by fraud”, and began proceedings at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in March.

Officials said the action was not defended by Carroll’s next of kin and, on May 1, the court granted the authorities a recovery order for the house and a term assurance policy in Carroll’s name.

A Crown Office spokesman said: “The property is now vested in the trustee for civil recovery, who will arrange for the house to be sold and the free proceeds, along with any interest in the term assurance policy, to be remitted to the Scottish Consolidated Fund.”

Money recovered under proceeds of crime laws is invested in community projects aimed at alleviating the effect
of crime.

To date, more than £60 million has been invested in a range of free activities for young people, according to the Crown Office.

Ruaraidh Macniven, head of the body’s civil recovery unit, said: “The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 enables civil proceedings to be taken to recover the proceeds of crime where prosecution is not possible for some reason, including, as in this case, where the alleged perpetrator of the crime has died.

“The civil recovery unit will continue to target assets which have been obtained through crime and, in particular, serious organised crime.”

Ross Monaghan, 30, was formally acquitted of murdering Carroll after a judge at the High Court in Glasgow ruled there was no case to answer due to insufficient evidence.