Notorious Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris is laid to rest at the same crematorium as his

Mourners have arrived for the funeral of infamous Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris, with him being laid to rest at the same venue as an underworld rival.

The gang leader-turned-author’s coffin was today carried into the city’s Daldowie Crematorium, where rival Tam McGraw’s funeral also took place almost 20 years ago.

Both men suffered knife injuries after a controntation in 2002, with Ferris accusing McGraw of being a police informant.

The former died aged 62 on October 6 at Glasgow’s University Hospital. He is survived by his wife Carolyn and children Paul, Dean, Carolyn, William and John-Paul.

Today’s ceremony saw his coffin arrive in a hearse featuring two floral tributes spelling out ‘Legend’ and ‘Dad’, before pallbearers then carried his coffin into the venue while a bagpiper performed.

The orders of service revealed the songs to be played during the occasion, which included Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here for the gathering and I Won’t Back Down by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the coffin’s entrance.

Sir Elton John’s Your Song was picked for the reflection, Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits for the committal and finally, for the recessional, Pink Floyd again with Coming Back To Life. 

Among the mourners seen attending were actor Paul Brannigan, who has appeared in Ken Loach’s 2022 film The Angel’s Share and BBC Scotland soap opera River City and was lined up to play Ferris in a new film. 

Others attending included Scottish boxer Alex Arthur, who won gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and became WBO super featherweight world champion 10 years later.

Ferris’ life story was previously turned into a 2013 movie called The Wee Man in which he was played by Line Of Duty star Martin Compston.

The career criminal first came to public attention in 1992 when he was cleared of the murder of Arthur Thompson Jnr, son of Glasgow crime ‘godfather’ Arthur Thompson Snr.

The not guilty verdict came after what was then the longest-running trial in Scottish criminal history.

He later stood trial at the Old Bailey in London in 1998, where he was convicted of conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons, dealing in firearms and possessing explosives.

Ferris was sentenced to ten years in prison, later reduced to seven on appeal.

While behind bars he wrote his first book, The Ferris Conspiracy, which was later adapted into the 2013 Bafta-winning film The Wee Man.

The film charted Ferris’s rise from the tough Blackhill area of Glasgow in the 1970s and 1980s to becoming an enforcer for feared crime boss Arthur Thompson Snr.

Police officers nicknamed Ferris ‘Houdini’ because of his ability to beat serious criminal charges which investigators believed were watertight.

Following his release from prison in 2002, Ferris insisted he had left crime behind and had become a legitimate businessman with interests in the security and construction sectors.

He also published several books documenting his life and experiences.

In an interview with the Daily Record in July, Ferris said he had never been tempted to return to crime despite continued scepticism about his transformation.

He said: ‘I have either been an absolute criminal genius for the last 25 years or I have done nothing wrong. Take your pick.’ Ferris grew up just a few hundred yards from Thompson’s fortified home, known as the Ponderosa.

After leaving school at 16, he worked as a van boy before becoming involved in organised crime.

By the age of 19, he had joined Thompson’s inner circle and developed a fearsome reputation in Glasgow’s underworld.

He was cleared over the shooting of John Hogg in 1984, after Hogg was struck when gunmen targeted his cousin Willie Gibson.

Ferris later fell out with the Thompsons in a bitter split that became one of the defining feuds of Glasgow gangland.

He claimed he had been set up over a drugs bust and said only Thompson Snr and Thompson Jnr knew where he had been travelling at the time.

The feud has long been linked to the 1991 murder of Arthur Thompson Jnr, known as ‘Fat Boy’, who was shot dead outside his father’s home in Provanmill.

Shortly afterwards, Ferris’s associates Bobby Glover, 31, and Joe ‘Bananas’ Hanlon, 23, were found shot dead in a car on the day of Thompson’s funeral.

Ferris was charged with the murder of Thompson Jnr but was acquitted after the landmark High Court trial. No one else has ever been convicted over the killing.

However, he was eventually convicted following Operation Abonar, an undercover investigation involving MI5, Strathclyde Police, Scotland Yard and the South East Regional Crime Squad.

The operation caught Ferris transporting three MAC-10 submachine guns, ammunition, Uzi magazines and silencers to Glasgow in an Opal Fruits box in 1997.

Prosecutors said the weapons were destined for Glasgow’s gangland streets.

Ferris was jailed in London for ten years in 1998, later reduced to seven, and served time in Belmarsh prison.

Although he vowed to go straight after his release, he became embroiled in a feud with rival gangster McGraw.

Their dispute culminated in a violent confrontation in 2002 in which both men suffered knife injuries.

A subsequent meeting involving Ferris was recorded during police surveillance and resulted in his parole being revoked and his return to prison.

Ferris is survived by five children, none of whom he said had become involved in crime.

Ferris’s older brother Billy died in prison last year aged 75 for murdering 15-year-old schoolboy Jason Hutchison in Ayrshire in 2003.