Top crime gang member linked to city shooting has travel ban lifted

Barry O’Neill, 37, was part of the nine-strong crime gang behind the horrific torture in West Lothian of drug dealer Robert Allan over an unpaid drug debt and a shooting in Edinburgh.

The shooting, at the home of Robert Kelbie in Ratho, was investigated by police in 2016.

The gang, branded the “most sophisticated” in Scotland, was heavily involved in drug dealing, firearms and violence.

O’Neill was jailed for seven years and four months for his role in the mob. He helped supply £45,000 of cocaine to Allan.

He met Allan several times and handed over a car loaded with the haul of drugs. He also later visited Allan demanding payment for the haul.

Allan fled to England but was traced by a tracking device in his car before being snatched from his home and knee-capped at point blank range during a terrifying two-day torture ordeal.

O’Neill had appealed his sentence and asked for a two-year ban on travelling out of the country to be lifted.

The Appeal Court in Edinburgh heard claims O’Neill had only played a minor role in the gang as a courier and had not featured in the massive police surveillance operation that snared his co-accused.

O’Neill also insisted he should not have been hit with a travel ban.

Judge Lord Menzies has ruled the ban should be lifted but refused to alter the jail term.

David Sell, 50, Anthony Woods, 44, Francis Mulligan, 41, Michael Bowman, 30, Gerard Docherty, 42, and Steven McArdle, 33, were linked to the underworld group.

The gang also included Edinburgh cocaine baron Mark Richardson and army veteran Martyn Fitzsimmons.