Courts seize £20,000 from pub boss after drugs swoop

A FORMER pub landlord who was caught with thousands of pounds worth of cocaine stashed in his bar has been forced to hand over £20,000 under proceeds of crime laws.

John Mackay, 40, was jailed for 18 months after admitting drug-dealing charges following a police raid on The Gauntlet Bar in Broomhouse Market.

He today claimed that he "took the rap" for drug dealers who had turned his pub's snooker room into their base.

Mackay said he was unable to eject the dealers out of fear, and lived in a "horrible situation" until police found 4390 of cocaine hidden on the premises in November 2007.

After he was jailed last January, the Civil Recovery Unit, which traces the profits of drug dealers and other criminals, launched proceedings against Mackay.

Speaking to the Evening News, Mackay said: "I had to take the guilty plea because I couldn't stick someone in for it. It's Broomhouse and you can't grass people up.

"I wasn't involved in drug dealing and I didn't profit a penny from it. I knew dealing was going on in the bar, but there were serious people I couldn't control and I couldn't go to the police. It was a horrible situation.

"I had a snooker table upstairs and the dealers started to gather there. I couldn't interfere. They must have stashed the drugs there out of convenience for them."

Mackay ran The Gauntlet Bar for a year and had left when it became embroiled in a drug war between rival dealers which culminated in gang leader Sean McGovern blasting the pub with a shotgun in September 2008.

McGovern was jailed for 17 years after admitting presenting a loaded firearm at dealer Jamie Hyland and firing it, as well as drug-supply offences.

Mackay, of Longstone Street, now works as a driver for a roofing firm.

He said: "I'm relieved the proceeds of crime stuff is all over because it's been a torrid time.

"They started off with a figure of 250,000. They saw I had a home and a car, but the house had a mortgage and the car was on finance.

"They could see the bar takings from the bank account, and earnings from my other jobs as a taxi driver and driving instructor. I then had to prove that the 250,000 came legally.

"By the end, they still wanted 25,000 from me, but we eventually settled for 20,000.

"A lot of that was from my taxi work because I didn't declare all my earnings."

Morag McLaughlin, area procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said: "This case again demonstrates that we will prosecute offenders to the full extent of the law."