Macari fails to attend drug trial

FORMER Celtic manager and player Lou Macari failed to give evidence as planned at a drugs trial yesterday.

Macari was at the High Court in Glasgow to appear as a defence witness for former Liverpool and Stoke midfielder, Steven Foley, 41, who is accused of a 500,000 heroin charge.

Macari waited in the wings for almost the entire day, but when defence QC Mhari Richards called him to give evidence Macari had vanished.

Earlier Macari told court staff that he was due to be in London last night to act as a pundit for Sky TV’s Celtic v Anderlecht Champion’s League coverage.

A court insider said: "Lou told everyone he was booked on a flight for London from Glasgow at 4:15pm and seemed to think he would be called to give evidence in time for him to catch it.

"He tried to get someone to go into court to tell the defence solicitor that he would have to go, but then he vanished. Lou was last seen running from the building and chasing a taxi down the Saltmarket. He hasn’t moved so fast since he was a player."

Foley’s QC looked stunned when a police officer came into court to announce Macari had not answered when his name was called.

She said: "I can’t explain it. He has been in the court building all day."

Ms Richards told the judge, Lord Emslie, there had been a question of Macari having to be in London in the afternoon.

She then had a hurried consultation with Foley in the dock and announced a minute later that she was not calling Macari.

Foley, of Childwall, Liverpool, is accused of dealing in 2kilos of 80 per cent pure heroin in Glasgow.

Police drug experts told the jury the heroin could be worth more than 500,000 because of its unusually high purity.

The jury heard that Foley had also been arrested three months previously in a Glasgow taxi carrying 58,000 in cash.