Scots property developer is found guilty of ordering assassination

Minutes before the shooting, Imran Sakur, 35, was seen on closed circuit television laughing and joking with Tony Demarco, 63, as they stood on the steps outside the Maybury Casino in Edinburgh.

Sakur appeared to run to help Mr Demarco and then to chase the fleeing gunman who had fired at the back of his head from a close range.

Mr Demarco survived the attempt on his life, although the bullet, which bounced off his skull, is still lodged in his cheek.

But the cameras also caught Sakur with a mobile phone to his ear, giving the signal for the "hit", as soon as Mr Demarco had turned his back to walk to his silver Mercedes.

Sakur, of Broughty Ferry, Tayside, was found guilty with three other men of conspiring to murder Mr Demarco.

The others were gunman Jamie Robertson, 25, of Paisley, Renfrewshire, who was to have been paid 20,000; getaway driver Francis McGlone, 39, also of Paisley; and go-between Craig Kelbie, 35, also known as Wallace, of Dundee. They will be sentenced next month.

Mr Demarco, of Danderhall, Midlothian, rejected suggestions in court that Sakur, a property developer, or Shahid Aslam, a friend of Sakur, had owed him a large sum of money, possibly 200,000, and that the debt was the motive for a plot to kill him.

Describing himself as a sandwich shop owner, Mr Demarco said: "I keep telling you there was no debt. I don't know who shot me."

The shooting occurred on the night of 3 June, 2008. Mr Demarco said he had gone to the casino to try to patch up a row between Sakur and Mr Aslam over a business deal that had gone wrong. "I just thought I could mediate and get it sorted out amicably," he told the jury.

The men had gone outside, and the court heard that they laughed and joked before Mr Demarco walked towards his car.

"I pressed the remote control … as I went to open my car door, I heard a bang and felt a thud behind my right ear," said Mr Demarco.

He was in great pain and he became disorientated. "I turned. I tried to get away from the pain while clutching my head. I thought I had been assaulted," he added.

He said he had not been aware of anyone behind him and had not heard any footsteps.

Someone came from the casino with a chair for him, and padding was put on the wound. An ambulance arrived and he was taken to hospital.

"I was told I had a gunshot wound at the back of my ear, and it had lodged in my cheek," he said.

Doctors had told him it would be too dangerous to try to remove the bullet.

Sakur was said to have wanted Mr Demarco murdered on his own behalf and also for Mr Aslam. He approached Wallace, who rented a flat from him and who reputedly had contacts with gangsters.

Wallace arranged the involvement of Robertson, who was his sister's boyfriend, and McGlone also joined the plot.

After the shooting, detectives studied hours of CCTV footage and saw McGlone's car driving around the area of the casino.

His home was raided, and he named Robertson as the gunman, in a comment he later tried to withdraw.

Police recovered a box of cartridges from a house where Robertson had been staying, and they matched a spent 8mm cartridge that had been found at the scene. Officers believed he had kept the ammunition in the hope of completing the contract after the failed attempt.

After the verdict, David Harvie, procurator-fiscal for Edinburgh, said: "During the trial, the court heard evidence of a conspiracy to murder Mr Demarco which included several meetings between the accused in order to follow his movements and plan how best to kill him. Mr Demarco is lucky to have survived, although he has been left permanently disfigured as a result of his injuries.

"Our area major crime team, based at the procurator-fiscal's office in Edinburgh, worked closely with the police through a painstaking investigation to ensure that the men involved in this crime were brought to justice."