Achi news desk-
His remarkable book, ‘Jimmy Two Guns: The Life and Crimes of a Gangland Lawyer’ – released last year – exposed Scotland’s criminal underworld from someone who knew it best.
Filled with bent police officers and allegations of corruption, the true crime genre in Scotland has been given more truth than it can handle. And apparently members of the police and judiciary who read the autobiography want to see McIntyre back behind bars.
But he says it’s a “romp” – a ‘Rumpole of the Baily’ story from the seedier sides of Scotland with much more humor than horror.
Now he’s hitting the crime circuit again, this time as a speaker rather than an activist, with an appearance at Crime Con on Saturday at the Glasgow Hilton.
The 67-year-old said: “I hope it’s quite a funny book. The publishers – Black and White – have been very good to me, but the book looks much darker than it is.
“A lot of the things I enjoyed doing were cases that weren’t necessarily very heavy.
“They (other criminals-turned-writers) all write these books which tend to be kind of serious stories, or else you get these ‘I was’ i used to do this, or i used to do that but now i’m really good. guy.’”
McIntyre added: “My book is about what I did both before I was a lawyer and it ends when I got out of prison. It is an unapologetic book. It’s a romp and I hope people see the funny side.”
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A defense lawyer, McIntyre represented one of the notorious McGovern brothers, Tommy, then 28, who was accused of shooting a man dead outside the Ashfield Bar in Springburn and was acquitted.
The lawyer also represented the youngest brother Paul McGovern, then 16, who was found guilty in 1990 of murdering a school janitor in Springburn and sentenced to life.
Eldest brother Joe McGovern died several years ago and McIntyre admits they were close friends – McGovern was best man when Evelyn married his wife and is godfather to their three children.
He also represented ex-gangster Paul Ferris – who he says he calls ‘Tom Hagen’ after the mafia consiglieri from The Godfather.
During the trial of Tommy McGovern, McIntyre was presented with an ethical dilemma that was possibly unique in the Scottish legal system.
He said: “In Tommy’s case there was a man who was willing to say he saw Tommy commit the murder as long as he dropped some charges against him.
“Someone suggested clipping (falling) the guy, and asked me what my thoughts were on the matter.
“Now, if I said ‘clip him’, he is clipped – but I have to think about myself, as a Catholic. I said, don’t click on it because there’s already one person dead that the cops are trying to pin on Tommy, and they’re really going to sit up and take notice if their star witness suddenly gets its nutted.
“I said no, it would be a bad step, the case is going to fold.” And I was right.”
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McIntyre’s legal career ended when he received a three-year prison sentence at the High Court in Glasgow after police found two guns and bullets at his home.
The lawyer claimed they were being held for a client who wanted them to be given a police gun amnesty. But the jury didn’t believe him.
These days he claims he was “set up” by officers who made the case look worse than it was by planting bullets in his pockets.
He said: “I managed to break into prison – it wasn’t a natural progression for me.”
These days, he has swapped real-life drama for fiction. After leaving prison he established a new career as a screenwriter, writing stories for Taggart and more than 200 episodes of River City.
But after working in the courts, and coming out the other side, he still denies what he considers the injustices of the justice system.
He said: “Take Glasgow. Someone from one gang ‘clips’ (murders) someone from another gang, it’s ‘Oh the outcry’, and they have a huge police investigation because one drug dealer killed another drug dealer.
“They do this and one man is made for it because these guys are not very bright. They get 28 years. Yet Tony Blair goes into Iraq and kills tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and nothing happens.
“I think it was Voltaire who said ‘if you are going to kill people you must do it by the thousands to the sound of the trumpets.’
“This is total hypocrisy”, he adds, going on to recount how the global drug trade sees tons of cocaine smuggled into Europe with the help of, he believes, widespread corruption every year.
“And then you get a little lassie called Mary or something in Castlemilk or Drumchapel who’s been caught with a couple of grams and she gets the court. It’s a complete pish.”
James McIntyre will appear in conversation with the Herald’s Catriona Stewart at Crime Con at the Glasgow Hilton in William Street on Saturday, April 27 at 2:20pm.
