Heroin Mr Big Runs Mrs Mops

Dec 16 2007 By Derek Alexander

Crime Lord Is Boss Of Cleaning Firm After Release From Jail

A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE drugs kingpin who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle built on misery and death is running his own cleaning firm after being released early from prison.

Heroin boss James Hamill, 48, is boss of AAA Sparkle Clean, which he runs from an industrial unit in Rutherglen, near Glasgow.

Champagne-swilling Hamill, nicknamed Hammy, served half an 18-year prison sentence handed to him in 1997.

He was released on parole after forfeiting just s38,000 of his s4million drugs fortune to the authorities.

But the Armani suits of his old life have been replaced with overalls and a high-visibility jacket, and his s40,000 Mercedes traded for a blue Transit van.

The four-bedroom mansion is also gone - home is now a rundown semi-detached with an untidy garden.

Hands-on Hamill is regularly spotted at the wheel of his van as he visits commercial and industrial properties giving quotes for work.

Few potential clients will have any idea he was once the biggest heroin dealer in Scotland. One source said: "Folk won't know who Hammy is.

"They'll probably remember when told the story but they wouldn't recognise his face or his name.

"I don't think many people would be willing to give him work if they knew who he was.

"They certainly wouldn't be keen if they had loved ones hooked on heroin or dead from using it.

"He spends all his time out on jobs for the firm. It's almost as if he's afraid to leave anyone else in charge.

"He's also paranoid. He still thinks he's being followed by police and is always looking over his shoulder."

A Sunday Mail investigator contacted Hamill, posing as a potential customer.

Hamill told him: "I usually do commercial and industrial properties. I do the schools through in Stirling.

"I can't tell you how much your job will be before I come out and look at it.

"But don't worry. I'll look after you because it's Christmas.

"Put it this way, it'll cost you hundreds of pounds, not thousands of pounds - and you'll get a good sparkle clean."

Stirling Council last night denied Hamill's company had a contract with them and said they employ their own cleaners.

However, Hamill did have one exclusive contract with five-star Cameron House on Loch Lomondside - briefly.

A hotel spokesman said: "AAA Sparkle Clean were hired to carry out work at Cameron House. But there was a dispute over an invoice and we no longer deal with them."

Hamill, a self-confessed tobacco and booze bootlegger, got out of Castle Huntly jail on Tayside in September 2006. He got the idea for a cleaning company after taking domestic courses in jail.

Hamill set up the firm with Paul Fitzpatrick, 51 - the father of boxing promoter Barry Hughes' right-hand man Paul jnr.

Hamill is registered at Companies House as living at an address in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, with Shirley Johns, boss of Harley Jo's hair salon.

But he really lives at a property in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, which is listed as the firm's head office.

The HQ of AAA Sparkle Clean is situated in an industrial estate in Southcroft Road, Rutherglen.

Johns denied to the Sunday Mail the pair were still an item.

Hamill was a high-roller with three luxury houses and bank accounts in Spain and South Africa.

He thought nothing of flying to Europe for the evening, just to dine in fine restaurants.

At the height of his reign, Hamill flooded Grampian with high-purity heroin. Although based in Glasgow, he ran the entire drugs trade in Aberdeen and its surrounding areas.

Police estimated his gang made s6million a year - and were responsible for 60 heroin deaths. Hamill was nailed after a joint operation involving Strathclyde and Grampian Police.

Six fellow gang members were jailed for a total of 41 years.

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