Violent gangland raider rakes in public security cash

Apr 27 2008 By Derek Alexander

Violent Gangland Raider Rakes In Public Cash As Shadowy Security Boss

A former murder suspect is making a mockery of attempts to clean up Scotland's gangster-infested security industry.

Robber Andy Cairns, 29, pockets vast sums of taxpayers' cash as boss of Fortress Security (Scotland) Ltd.

Yet his name appears nowhere on company documents - placing him out of reach of watchdogs' attempts to outlaw rogue firms.

Since last November, every security firm boss and frontline employee has needed a Security Industry Authority licence to operate in Scotland.

But gangsters evade the SIA by using titles such as "consultant" and place clean frontmen on company documents.

Swaggering ned Cairns - who drives a £45,000 Audi Q7 and lives in Glasgow's west end with his rottweiler dog - is regarded as a rising force in Scotland's gangland.

Cairns' father James, 57, is listed as director and secretary of Fortress. He lives in a Clydebank council estate and the firm operates from Fortress House in the town.

Although Cairns is not on company documents, his basement flat in Glasgow is listed in the phone book as the firm's HQ.

Gangland security firms are often no more than protection rackets who make an offer of security that cannot be refused.

They undercut legitimate rivals by failing to pay taxes and the minimum wage while using violence to target rival firms.

Police believe crooked firms - exposed by the Sunday Mail - are fronts for drug dealing and launder the proceeds. Fortress has private and public contracts across Clydebank, including the massive redevelopment of Queen's Quay which is bankrolled by West Dunbartonshire Council and Scottish Enterprise.

The regeneration firm-behind the project is Clydebank Rebuilt Ltd, whose chairman is John McFall MP and whose board includes four West Dunbartonshire councillors.

Clydebank Rebuilt Ltd said construction contracts on Queen's Quay were awarded to Barr Construction.

They added: "Responsibility for security belongs to the construction company."

Fortress also guard a derelict gatehouse at a cemetery in the town.

Cairns was named in a police report to the procurator fiscal over the 1999 fatal double shooting of drug dealer John Nisbet, 25, and friend William Lindsay, 29, whose bodies were found torched in East Lothian.

But Cairns has never stood trial for the killings despite being identified by detectives as prime suspect along with his dealer pal Lee Smith, who died of a cocaine overdose two years ago aged 32.

Cairns was jailed for three years for assault and robbery in 1996. He also has convictions for firearms and assault to severe injury which resulted in a 12-month jail term.

He split from his partner Christine Burns after a series of police raids at their home on the outskirts of Glasgow.

In 2006 Fortress recorded a £774,608 turnover and £112, 878 profit.

Our source said: "Cairns has been quietly carving out a name for himself in the underworld.

The police were convinced there was a connection to the murders of Nisbet and Lindsay but couldn't prove it.

"They do suspect him of being involved at the higher level of the drugs trade."

Cairns met former sidekick Smith in Polmont Young Offenders' Institution.

Nisbet and Lindsay were tortured and shot in a field near Chapelhall, Lanarkshire. Their corpses were then loaded into a car boot and taken to Elphinstone, near Tranent, where they were burned to destroy evidence.

Phone records established that the last call Nisbet made before he died was to Smith.

Sources say Cairns has strong links with drug dealer and convicted killer Robert "Birdman" O'Hara, 27, who was jailed for murdering Paul McDowall.

Cairns has visited him numerous times at Shotts Prison since he was convicted in 2006.

Our source added: "Cairns was devastated when Smith died but he is now well-known in the criminal world in his own right.

"He is reckoned to be worth a few million and has a reputation for extreme violence.

"There was talk of him setting up a security firm with the Birdman."

Cairns last night refused to comment on his links to Fortress Security and the murder investigation and his previous convictions as "ancient history".

A Fortress spokesman said: "No comment."

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