A CONVICTED gangster who was acquitted of murdering a man in a Drumchapel street has succeeded in his legal bid to quash a court order preventing him from carrying out more serious crimes. 

John Kennedy, 42, and 31-year-old Darren Eadie were made the subjects of Serious Crime Prevention Orders after they and two other men were found guilty earlier this year of murdering Kenny Reilly in Maryhill in 2018.

The pair were part of a gang which also included Eadie’s father Morton, 56, and 30-year-old Ross Fisher. 

The quartet were given life sentences at the High Court in Edinburgh in February for killing Mr Reilly as he sat in a car at a set of traffic lights.

The Crown had also accused Kennedy of murdering Jamie Campbell in Essenside Avenue, Drumchapel in March 2006.

But a jury delivered a not proven verdict on that charge earlier this year.

A jury heard how the Eadies and Fisher sat beside Kennedy as he shot Mr Reilly dead. Judge Lord Beckett gave them life terms totalling 94 years. 

He also imposed the orders on Kennedy and Eadie, which start running when they are released from prison. 

Kennedy was ordered to serve a minimum term of 26 years, while Darren Eadie will be behind bars for 24 years before he can apply for parole.

The orders would have seriously restricted how Kennedy and Eadie could live their lives after being freed from prison. 

The authorities introduced the orders in a bid to prevent people convicted of gangland offences from going back to lives of crimes upon their release from jail. 

Earlier this year, lawyers for Kennedy and Eadie went to the Court of Criminal Appeal to argue that Lord Beckett was wrong to impose the orders on their clients. 

Appeal judges Lord Carloway, Lord Pentland and Lord Boyd heard that the orders were “disproportionate” and unnecessary. 

The judges were told that the orders were unfair and breached the men’s human rights because the pair could be rehabilitated in the 25 years that they’ll spend in jail. 

The lawyers also argued that the most appropriate time for such orders to be issued was when the two men were close to release.

They said the Chief Constable of Police Scotland could make an application for the orders to be passed in the 2040s. 

On Friday, the appeal judges issued a written judgement in which they detailed the reasons why they agreed with the submissions made by defence lawyers. 

Quashing the SCPOs, Lord Carloway, who delivered the judgment, wrote: “The trial judge, in predicting whether any future risk was real, rather than a possibility, was certainly entitled to take into account, as an extremely important factor, that this was a cold-blooded assassination.

“Nevertheless, and accepting that some convicted criminals may be beyond redemption, a second important, but absent, factor is the progress toward rehabilitation, which one or both of the appellants might make over the quarter-century during which they will remain incarcerated.

“Having regard to the substantial length of time which will elapse before their possible release, and to the fact that the chief constable will be at liberty to apply for an order before any such release, the court does not regard it as a proportionate response to the prospective risk, that an SCPO be made at this stage.

“It will therefore quash the orders.”

Passing sentence after the jury's guilty verdicts on the Reilly killing, Lord Beckett told the gang of four: "People who are prepared to engage in such meticulously planned and ruthlessly perpetrated assassination on the streets of our cities can expect substantial punishment.

"While the attack was plainly directed at Kenneth Reilly, it showed gross indifference to the safety of the driver and the public."

All four were found guilty of murdering Mr Reilly by repeatedly discharging a firearm at him and shooting him in the head.

They were all also convicted of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by setting fire to a Ford S-Max car used in the hit.

The offences were aggravated by connection to serious organised crime.

Earlier this year, Eadie’s solicitor advocate Ann Ogg urged the judges to quash the SCPO. 

She said that Eadie could be rehabilitated upon his release from custody

She said: “The imposition of a serious crime prevention order is unnecessary and is speculative of what the appellant’s circumstances can be.

“Judges do not have crystal balls in their armoury.” 

In the judgment issued on Friday, Lord Carloway wrote of how Eadie worked as a scaffolder.  

He said that the authorities were unable to establish how Kennedy made his money. 

He wrote: “It was not known how he supported himself since he was unemployed, but not in receipt of benefits.”

The court heard that the terms of the orders meant that Eadie and Kennedy would have to report to the police twice a year. 

The order also stated that the pair were unable to communicate with their co-accused - however, an exception was made for Darren Eadie speaking to his father Morton. 

The pair were also not allowed to possess any more than £1,000 in cash. 

Lord Carloway also concluded that Darren Eadie had organised the shooting.

Lord Carloway also said Mr Reilly was targeted in retaliation for an assault which had been carried out on Darren Eadie's friend.

He wrote: “Mr Eadie, who had organised the shooting in retaliation for an assault with machetes on his friend Ryan McAteer on April 8, 2018, was given a punishment part of 24 years. 

“Mr Kennedy’s punishment part was set at 26 years, because of his more extensive record.”