A BRITISH man alleged to have carried out the brazen Mafia-style assassination of two notorious Scottish underworld figures has claimed his human rights would be violated if he were locked up in a Spanish prison.
On May 31, a masked assassin gunned down two notorious crime bosses outside a packed Fuengirola pub – moments after the pair of high-ranking Scottish gangsters had watched Paris Saint-Germain thrash Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final.
Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46, were executed in front of dozens of terrified holidaymakers in a horrifying bloodbath at Monaghan’s Bar – owned by Ross.
Michael Riley, 44, from Huyon, Liverpool, has been charged with the murders of Monaghan and Lyons Jr, both belonging to the Glasgow-based Lyons crime family.
During a brief hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court last week, Riley’s lawyer sought to fight against extradition to Spain, claiming he ‘suffers from depression and anxiety’ and would be ‘in fear of his life from other gang members’ if detained in Spanish prison.
Renata Pinter, for the defence, said such a move would violate Article 3 of the Human Rights Act, which ‘prohibits everyone from being subjected to torture, or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’.
A psychiatric report will be provided before the extradition hearing, scheduled for November 20.
Last month, sinister new details emerged of the moments before the best pal gangsters were shot, sending shockwaves through the Costa del Sol expat community.
According to anonymous insiders quoted by The Scottish Sun, a crew of seasoned female shoplifters were recruited as spotters and proved integral to the murder plot.
It is also claimed that the killer benefited from a mole in Scotland who provided key information on the movements of Lyons Jnr, who had travelled to Spain as part of a group from Dullater Golf Club.
While Scottish police are keen to play down links to any Scotland-based turf war, Spanish cops remain convinced the hit is related to the Lyons crime family’s long-running feud with the Daniel clan.
Police Scotland released a statement in June to say there was ‘no intelligence to suggest’ the killings were connected to a spate of recent gang-related attacks in the UK being investigated under Operation Portaledge.
But Chief Superintendent Pedro Agudo Novo of Malaga’s provincial judicial police unit said: “The double murder was carried out by a professional killer and member of one of the victims’ rival gangs.”
Riley is the only individual to have been arrested so far over the killings.
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