THE mother of a small-time drug dealer was dragged screaming from the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, after the man accused of luring him to his execution was found not guilty of murder.
It had been alleged that Mr Stephen Bryson, 32, of Causeyside Street, Paisley, took Mr Paul Hainey, 21, on the back of his motorcycle to a lonely country road, where he was ''executed'' with a sawn-off shotgun by two other men.
As Mr Bryson was led from the dock, the victim's mother screamed: ''You murdered my son. You drove him to his death.''
Mrs Hainey was dragged away by police, along with other men who also swore at Mr Bryson.
Earlier, the prosecution said Mr Hainey, a plumbing student, was found dead on a road near Houston, Renfrewshire, last November. The victim of a gangland execution.
The first blast from a sawn-off shotgun had killed him instantly. To make sure, the killers then fired a second shot into his side as he lay face down on the ground.
The discovery of his body in a lay-by sparked fears of another drugs war in Paisley, already the scene of many shootings, maimings and stabbings.
It was alleged by Mr Simon Di Rollo, prosecuting, however, that Mr Hainey's execution was not to do with drugs, but about cold-blooded revenge.
The jury was told that three months earlier, Mr Hainey, of Mossvale Square, Paisley, had allegedly broken into another Paisley man's home to assault and rob him.
Police told the man they did not have the evidence to charge Mr Hainey, and Mr Di Rollo alleged that Mr X decided to retaliate.
Mr X was named by Mr Bryson in a special defence as Mr Hainey's killer. He also named his accomplice and another man he alleged was the rider of the motorcycle.
The three gave evidence during the trial, all replying ''no comment'' to virtually every question, telling trial Judge Lord Osborne they did so on legal advice.
Because of pending proceedings, the media was ordered not to identify the men, who Mr Di Rollo described as ''pretty frightening characters''.
The court was told that Mr Bryson, a motorcycle enthusiast and painter and decorator, confessed to detectives that he had driven Mr Hainey to the spot where he was found dead.
In his alleged confession, Mr Bryson admitted he helped plan the murder and pick the location, and did a ''dry run'' to the execution spot the day before.
He also told detectives he lured Mr Hainey to the scene with the promise of cheap Temazepam capsules.
Mr Bryson, it was alleged, later took police to a railway embankment near Paisley's Canal Street Station, where a sawn-off shotgun was recovered., Next to it was a bag which contained a jacket.
Examination of the articles, it was alleged, revealed Mr Bryson's fingerprint on the bag, and gunpowder residue on the jacket.
It was also alleged that another jacket with gunpowder residue on it was found in the kitchen of Mr Bryson's home.
Mr Di Rollo told the jury there were 14 points of special knowledge in the accused's alleged confession which only someone involved in the crime could have known about.
In his evidence, however, Mr Bryson, claimed to his solicitor Mr Murray McAra that he had been at home on the day of the murder, leaving only once to walk his dog, and said his motorcycle had vanished and that someone looking like him must have used it on the night of the murder.
He told the court that after Mr Hainey's death one of the three men named in his special defence came to his home and ordered him to make a false confession. When he refused, the man stabbed him in the stomach, terrifying him to such an extent that he felt he had no option but to follow Mr X's orders.
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