A former Aberdeen prosecutor was “stunned” upon learning that a former customer at his family’s pub allegedly planned to assassinate him, a trial has heard.
Darren Harty, 37, gave evidence today in the trial of 41-year-old Martin Ready at the High Court in Glasgow.
Ready is charged with attempting to conspire to murder Mr Harty by teaming up with others via the dark web to target the lawyer.
It is alleged to have occurred between May 29 2021 and September 15 2022 at an address in North Lanarkshire.
A joint minute of agreed evidence stated that Ready set up and used cryptocurrency accounts at the time.
Jury told about cryptocurrency ‘payment’ for lawyer’s ‘assassination’
The document claimed Read accessed a “dark” website called the Online Killers Market under the username “Harry Brown”.
The joint minute said instructions were made to have the lawyer shot and killed.
A total of 0.2913 Bitcoin, valued at £5,071, was transferred to the administrator of the Online Killers Market “as payment” for the “assassination” of Mr Harty.
Ready pled not guilty to a charge of attempting to conspire with another or others to murder Mr Harty.
He has lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility.
The court heard from Mr Harty, who claimed that he knew Ready as a customer from his family’s pub in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, where he worked before starting university in 2014.
He stated that he was familiar with Ready because he did not drink alcohol, but instead drank coffee.
Lawyer tells court he felt ‘completely bewildered’ by alleged kill plot
Mr Harty told jurors that he became aware of a police investigation into Ready in September 2022.
Prosecutor Erin Campbell asked Mr Harty if he was aware that it was a conspiracy to murder and he replied: “Yes”.
Miss Campbell then asked the witness if he knew any reason why this might be, to which Mr Harty responded: “None whatsoever”.
Miss Campbell asked: “How did you feel?”
And Mr Harty then answered: “Stunned, shocked, it happened on a works night out. It wasn’t something I was expecting.
“I was on a works night out when the police came to me. I was completely bewildered with the idea.”
‘We were not friends’
Jurors were told that Ready had, two weeks before, downloaded an image of Mr Harty from the internet onto his mobile phone.
Brian McConnachie KC, defending his accused client, asked Mr Harty if he saw Ready at the pub between 2014 and 2022.
“It is possible,” Mr Harty answered, adding: “We were not friends, it’s not something that sticks in my mind seeing him on previous occasions. He may have been around.”
The advocate later asked if he knew two named families from Coatbridge, to which he said: “Yes”.
Mr McConnachie asked: “Have you been involved in money laundering for the families?”
Mr Harty replied: “Absolutely not”.
Court told accused was snared by an English production company’s journalist
The trial heard Ready’s plan was snared after a journalist for an English production company contacted the police while carrying out an investigation on the dark web.
Detective Sergeant Karen Murray, 44, stated that information in relation to Mr Ready looking to hire a hitman was received.
She was informed that there was a “threat to safety” for Mr Harty.
The court was shown a screenshot from the Online Killers Market which offered services from $5,000 up to $60,000 for “killing important people”.
A number of messages allegedly from Ready – using the name Harry Brown – communicating with the administrator of the Online Killers Market was read to jurors.
Ready was given an invoice with the order name “Darren Harty” and the description “Simple shoot and run”.
Jurors heard that Ready transferred $5,000 of Bitcoin into an escrow account.
Several users of the Online Killers Market messageboard forum were seen to offer their services for killing Mr Harty who was described as a “soft target”.
Prison phone calls played to jury
Two phone calls Ready made while in custody awaiting trial were played to the court.
He stated in one call that a psychiatrist believed he was suffering from bipolar disorder at the time.
The second call was that his psychological assessment fell short of not knowing between right and wrong.
Miss Campbell asked the detective sergeant if during her inquiries she determined whether Online Killers Market was a real website to which she replied: “No”.
Mr McConnachie put it to the witness that the website was fraudulent and had taken in over £1 million.
Excerpts of a lengthy letter that Ready wrote from prison to a Mark Cowan in October 2022 were also read out to the court.
In it, Ready told Mr Cowan, who had sent him cash to his prison bank account, not to “breathe a word of this to anyone”.
Ready claimed that he thought he was “Jesus on a crusade to save the world” and bringing attention to “gang stalking”.
He also stated he was abducted “off the street” in 2020, claiming he had knowledge about who did it as he worked for them.
Ready claimed that he was later diagnosed with a delusional disorder as his “story was so wild”.
Ready referred to Harty as a ‘bent lawyer’ involved in laundering money
He also stated that the “gang” had members of staff collude with them to “intimidate and silence” him.
Ready later stated he read Facebook posts about Mr Harty’s family’s pub and referred to him as a “bent lawyer” involved in laundering money.
Police forensic computer analyst Matthew Gordon, 24, told jurors that Ready installed a virtual private network (VPN) and the Tor internet browser which would have hidden his internet activity in August 2022.
His search history also showed that Ready searched for Mr Harty by name and had written “Hire a Hitman” on his keyboard at some point in time on the device.
Mr McConnachie discussed texts with Mr Gordon that Ready allegedly sent to a woman called “Cumbernauld Julie” in November 2021.
They read: “I was a junior lawyer and I had to quit my job two years ago as I knew my life was in danger. Travelling to work provided an opportunity to attack.
“I inherited money three years ago. I’m good for money.”
Ready further claimed that his half-brother, who he claimed blackmailed his mother for money, could try and have him killed but the “risk was low.”
The trial continues on Monday before Judge Lady Hood.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
