Rise of Jamie 'Iceman' Stevenson from Glasgow crime lord to UK's most wanted

James Stevenson grew up in the Red Road flats in Glasgow and made a his way to the top of the criminal underworld in the city becoming an unternational drug trafficker.

Jamie Stevenson stood in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow in April 2007, awaiting sentencing for his role in a £1million money-laundering operation. It was likely the first time his name became widely associated with serious organised crime in Scotland.

However, Stevenson has long been connected to the uppermost ranks of the country’s criminal underworld. Known as 'Iceman', he is often mentioned alongside other notorious Scottish gangland figures, with equally memorable nicknames such as 'Goofy', 'Specky', and 'Piggy'.

That day in the High Court in Glasgow, Stevenson was alongside his stepson, Gerry Carbin, with both admitting to charges of concealing and receiving criminal property as part of a seven-figure operation. Investigators from the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) had used listening devices and hidden microphones to gather evidence from their homes.

This led to the recovery of nearly £600,000 in cash and 55 luxury watches valued at £307,000. Stevenson had also tried to set up a taxi firm to launder the profits from his criminal activities, reports the Scottish Daily Express.

Seventeen years later, both men would return to court for their involvement in a cocaine smuggling plot, but in 2007, Judge Lord Hodge sentenced Stevenson to 12 years, recognising his high-ranking role in Scotland’s criminal underworld.

The judge said: "It is clear that you occupy an important position in the world of organized crime." Carbin, then 26, received a five-and-a-half-year sentence. Despite this, Stevenson was released after serving less than six years.

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Following his release, Stevenson was spotted in Bothwell, an affluent area in South Lanarkshire, frequenting a brasserie owned by a close friend linked to convicted brothel-owner Hugh O'Donnell.

However, after a significant SCDEA investigation called 'Operation Chilon', Stevenson was returned to prison for breaching his licence. This followed the seizure of over £30million worth of cocaine in southern France, which authorities believed was tied to Stevenson’s network.

In 2009, French police seized 684kg of pure cocaine from a lorry near Montpellier, a truck owned by Charles McAughey, who operated a haulage company in South Lanarkshire. The cocaine, concealed among cash registers and coffee beans, was en route to London and Glasgow.

Although McAughey was linked to the operation, the plot had been orchestrated by brothers Barry and James Gillespie. The Gillespies had tasked John Jackson, an associate of the late George 'Specky' Boyd, with overseeing the shipment. The bust was a significant blow to the Gillespies, who blamed Jackson for the loss.

While McAughey was never charged in connection with this haul, he was sentenced to eight years in 2017 for another drug offence in France. By this time, Jackson had died under what police described as "non-suspicious circumstances."

Boyd, a feared underworld figure from Nitshill in Glasgow, had died in a car crash in Spain in 2003. Boyd’s criminal circle included Stephen 'Goofy' Docherty and Robert 'Piggy' Pickett, who terrorised the Ferguslie Park estate in Paisley during the late 1980s.

Docherty rose to prominence in Glasgow's drug scene, but his fate was sealed in 2006 when he was run over and stabbed in the city’s East End. His killer remains unidentified. Pickett, meanwhile, is serving a 16-year sentence for his role in the Lyons and Daniels gang feud.

Stevenson himself narrowly escaped death several times due to his underworld connections. In the book The Iceman: The Rise and Fall of a Crime Lord by former Sunday Mail journalist Russell Findlay and Jim Wilson, Stevenson's early years in the crime-ridden areas of Glasgow are explored.

Growing up in Barmulloch after moving from Monkland Street in Townhead, Stevenson quickly gained a reputation for violence. He became closely associated with the McGovern family, a powerful criminal clan in Springburn.

His friendship with Tony McGovern was so close that they served as each other's best man at their weddings. However, tensions between Stevenson and the McGovern family erupted in 2000 after Tommy McGovern, Tony’s brother, refused to pay Liverpool drug suppliers, threatening their business.

Stevenson agreed to peace talks but was ambushed and shot at point-blank range. Remarkably, he survived and sought revenge. Three months later, Tony McGovern was gunned down outside the New Morven Bar in Glasgow. Despite wearing a Kevlar vest, he was pronounced dead shortly after the attack.

In his book, Findlay, now leader of the Scottish Tories, noted the underworld knew there was only one suspect for McGovern’s murder— his former best friend, Jamie 'Iceman' Stevenson. A source told the Record: “Stevenson felt bad about Tony, but said, ‘If you walk in the jungle, you’d better be ready to bump into a tiger.’”

To send a clear message, Stevenson followed other members of the McGovern family, photographing their movements and circulating the images to his network. Stevenson had taken charge, and no one could deny it.

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