Freed drug case Bay City Rollers talk of 'overwhelming relief'

Published on Saturday 4 February 2006 01:02

BAY City Rollers Les McKeown and Pat McGlynn told of their "overwhelming relief" as they walked from court yesterday on being cleared of plotting to supply £16,000 worth of cocaine.

McKeown, 50, the band's former singer, who admitted being a user of the Class A drug, revealed he was considering legal action for loss of earnings after his arrest in June last year.

McKeown and McGlynn, who became international stars in the 1970s with hits such as Shang-A-Lang and Bye Bye Baby, have always denied their guilt.

Outside the court, McKeown said: "This has been dragging on for nine months and I have lost a lot of work because of it.

"I still do a lot of overseas work and haven't been able to go abroad because I had to surrender my passport when I was arrested and charged.

"I will be taking some advice on what I can do about this to recover some money that I would have made doing concerts in places like America."

McKeown, who now lives in London, said he was "confident" that he would be exonerated throughout the two-week trial at Basildon Crown Court.

He said: "I was confident the jury would consider the evidence the police had and would find the suppositions that were made were quite wrong.

"It has been terribly stressful for me and my family. I just feel relief that what I have been through is now over. I'm looking forward to starting my tour later this year."

Rollers guitarist McGlynn, 47, was accused of travelling from Edinburgh to Essex allegedly to pick up almost half a kilogram of cocaine at a meeting.

When McGlynn arrived at the meeting with a third defendant, Alastair Murray - who was also cleared yesterday - armed police were lying in wait and arrested the pair at gunpoint, with two other men who have since admitted their part in the plot. McKeown was held two weeks later after phone records allegedly linked him to the plot.

McGlynn, of Edinburgh, was shaking in the dock when the jury returned its not-guilty verdicts after five hours of deliberation. His wife, the former glamour model and actress Janine Andrews, burst into tears in the public gallery and hugged him as he left the court.

Afterwards McGlynn said: "It's a big relief, it's unbelievable."