Corrupt policeman ‘had links to collapsed Kevin Carroll murder trial’

Disgraced former officer Derek McLeod passed confidential surveillance information concerning the whereabouts of Mr Carroll and his associates to a organised crime gang, it was claimed yesterday.

Mr Carroll was shot by two masked gunmen in a daylight “hit” outside an Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow in January, 2010.

McLeod, 43, formerly an officer with Lothian & Borders Police, is said to have been jailed after being identified as the source of the information that had been taken from secure police computers.

A raid on his house also uncovered 85kg of cannabis under the stairs, and a cannabis farm in his garage. It is thought that McLeod had been selling the drug with the help of the organised crime gang he passed the police information.

The trial of Ross Monaghan for the murder of Mr Carroll collapsed last week, when the judge, Lord Brailsford, ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

It emerged that there was no evidence which placed him at the Asda store at the time of the shooting.

The judge had refused to allow the jury to hear evidence that a single particle of gun-power residue had been found on a coat that belonged to Mr Monaghan similar to that found in cartridges at the murder scene.

Lord Brailsford ruled that the finding was “of no evidential value”.

The identity of the officer had been kept secret while the case was heard.

But it has since been alleged that McLeod helped the crime gang stay one step ahead of police. It was reported that he had been a member of the gang while still a serving officer and had prompted a probe into the detectives investigating the Carroll murder after he claimed they were pressurising him to incriminate suspects.

McLeod appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh in June last year and admitted dealing in cannabis and illegally accessing the police computer.

He was jailed for two years and three months for drugs offences and 16 months for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

A reporting ban was placed on the case until the end of Mr Monaghan’s trial.

In a statement to a newspaper, a Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: “McLeod’s guilty plea was the result of a long- running counter-corruption investigation.

“He resigned from the force following his arrest.”