Paul Ferris, Glasgow Gangland Figure Turned Best-Selling Author, Dies at 62

Paul Ferris, a notorious figure from Glasgow's criminal underworld who later reinvented himself as a best-selling author, has died at the age of 62. He is understood to have passed away on Tuesday night at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow following a short illness.

The news was first shared publicly by photographer Brian Anderson, a longtime friend of Ferris, who announced the death on his Naked City Facebook page. Anderson described Ferris as a best-selling author and a "former notorious criminal," adding that word of his passing "will come as a shock to many who knew him throughout the different chapters of his life."

Speaking subsequently to BBC Scotland News, Anderson reflected on a friendship that spanned a quarter of a century. He said the two had got on "really well" and remembered Ferris as "polite, funny and kind." Anderson added that it had come as a shock to everyone that the friendship endured for 25 years, a remark that hints at the improbability of the bond between a photographer and a man once regarded as one of Scotland's most feared criminals.

Ferris first came to national prominence through his connection to one of the most notorious episodes in Scottish criminal history: the 1991 shooting of Arthur Thompson Jnr. Thompson Jnr, the son of crime boss Arthur Thompson, was killed outside the family home in the Blackhill area of Glasgow in August 1991. His murder remains unsolved to this day, with no one ever convicted of the killing.

Ferris was charged with the murder and stood trial the following year. The proceedings, which began in 1992, were described at the time as the longest and most expensive criminal case in Scottish legal history. More than 300 witnesses gave evidence across 54 days of hearings, and the case was estimated to have cost around £4 million.

The prosecution's case rested heavily on the testimony of Dennis Woodman, who claimed Ferris had confessed to the killing while the two men were both being held at Barlinnie Prison. Defence lawyers mounted a vigorous challenge to the credibility of that evidence and argued that the case against Ferris was deeply flawed. After the jury deliberated for more than 24 hours, Ferris was acquitted of murder and all other charges in 1992.

Despite the acquittal, Ferris's legal troubles were far from over. In 1998 he was jailed for seven years after being convicted of gun-running, a sentence that further cemented his reputation as a significant figure in organised crime. The conviction marked another chapter in a life that repeatedly intersected with the Scottish justice system.

It was after his release that Ferris began to turn his experiences into a literary career. His first book, The Ferris Conspiracy, was published in 2001. He went on to publish a number of further titles in collaboration with the writer Reg McKay, who died in 2011. The books offered readers an insider's account of Glasgow's underworld and helped transform Ferris from a convicted criminal into a commercially successful author.

His story reached an even wider audience in 2013 when The Ferris Conspiracy was adapted into a film titled The Wee Man. The movie starred Martin Compston, best known for his role in the television series Line of Duty, as Ferris. The adaptation brought Ferris's narrative to cinemas and introduced his story to a generation who may have known little about Scotland's gangland history.

Ferris's death has prompted reflection on a life that defied easy categorisation. To some, he was a violent enforcer and gun-runner; to others, he was a storyteller who chronicled a hidden side of Glasgow and, in later years, a friendly and personable acquaintance. His ability to move between those identities is part of what made him such an enduring and controversial public figure.

The 1992 trial remains a landmark moment in Scottish legal history, not only for its length and cost but for the questions it raised about the reliability of prison-confession evidence. The acquittal, and the fact that Thompson Jnr's killing has never been solved, have ensured that the case continues to attract attention decades later.

Ferris's passing at 62 comes after what has been described as a short illness. He died at one of Glasgow's major hospitals, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, according to reports. His death closes a chapter on a figure whose life story spanned the worlds of organised crime, the courtroom, publishing and film.

For those who followed his career, Ferris represented a peculiarly Scottish kind of notoriety — a man whose name was synonymous with the gangland era of the 1990s, yet who found a second act through books and cinema. His writings, produced with McKay, remain a widely read account of that milieu.

Brian Anderson's tribute captured the mixed emotions that news of the death has provoked. "It was a shock to everyone that I remained friends with Paul for 25 years," he said, a statement that acknowledges both the unlikely nature of their friendship and the complexity of Ferris's character beyond his public reputation.

Ferris leaves behind a contested legacy. He was acquitted of the crime that first made him a household name, convicted of another, and subsequently built a successful career recounting his life on the margins of the law. How history judges him will likely depend on which chapter of that life readers choose to remember.