Gangster 'trapped while being shot'

A murdered gangland figure was trapped in a car and repeatedly shot at while his two associates made their escape, a court has heard. Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was in the back seat of a parked black Audi A3 when two masked gunmen set upon him outside Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow, and fired 38 bullets. Stephen McLaggan, 25, said he was in the front passenger seat but got out the moment he saw the black Volkswagen Golf pull up in front of them and he saw men with masks getting out. He said when he returned to the three-door car, it was locked. Another man, John Bonner, was in the driver's seat of the vehicle but Mr McLaggan said he could not recall when Mr Bonner got out. Mr McLaggan was giving evidence at the trial of Ross Monaghan, 30, who denies repeatedly shooting and murdering Mr Carroll, while acting with others, on January 13 2010. He has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming a man who cannot be named for legal reasons and seven others. Derek Ogg, Monaghan's defence QC, said it was "miraculous" that Mr McLaggan and Mr Bonner had managed to get away and said it was as if they had known the attack was going to happen. The lawyer also said surveillance officers had suggested Mr Carroll characteristically sat in the front passenger seat and so being in the back was "breaking a pattern". The High Court in Glasgow heard that Mr Carroll was "paranoid" about being followed because he had been shot twice in the past. Mr Bonner had also been shot before, when he was driving Mr Carroll around. Mr McLaggan told police that when he got back to the car, he saw Mr Carroll's eyes and mouth were open and, assuming he was dead, phoned the gangster's partner's brother Francis Green to tell him: "Ger's been shot. He's dead." Mr Green, nicknamed "Fraggle", arrived at the scene, before the police, and he was handed the keys to the car before leaning in and "holding" Mr Carroll. Mr Ogg put it to the court that Mr Green had actually been searching his body and took his mobile phone, a suggestion Mr McLaggan denied. When asked by the lawyer if Fraggle was "the boss", Mr McLaggan said he was not. He also denied a conversation about getting rid of Sim cards when he, Mr Green, Mr Bonner and another man were placed in Mr Green's red Audi by armed police until cars arrived to take them away for questioning. Mr McLaggan admitted placing his own Sim card in a tub of Vaseline, which the court heard would not damage it, so police would not take it away because he needed phone numbers from it. Mr Ogg said this showed he was a "calm, calculating" person and that he had "presence of mind", something which would not be expected in someone who was "shocked" at losing their friend.

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