Big Brother of wall-to-wall psychos, Scots banker tells on life in US jail

Gary Mulgrew, who along with fellow bankers Giles Darby and David Bermingham became known as the NatWest Three, has given a graphic account of life in jail, describing the brutality endured by many inmates.

The Glaswegian, who was controversially extradited to the US in 2006, has recounted his first days in Big Spring prison, near the Mexican border, recalling the moment he walked into his cell.

“It was intimidating walking through the inmates,” he said. “True, I had once worked as a bouncer, earning a bit of cash when I was a student. But now I was 46, and out of shape.

“I entered a smaller corridor marked ‘4’ and turned to view my new living quarters. I was too shocked to move. No cosy cell for me. I had entered an enormous, noisy room about 80ft long and 40ft wide, crammed with nothing but cast-iron yellow bunk beds and small lockers.

“I had figured on dealing with one cellmate, maybe two at the most.

“But this. This wasn’t punishment, it was an experiment: the Big Brother house with wall-to-wall psychos.”

In his book Gang of One, about his time in the prison, he described how he was received by some of his fellow inmates.

He wrote: “A native Indian guy was sitting on his lower bunk, drawing. ‘You the new Scotty guy?’ he asked, looking up, smiling. He had the demeanour of someone who had been there a long time. ‘My name is Gabriel, but you can call me Chief. Everyone else does.’ He pushed a fist out to me. I bumped him back. ‘I hear your tribe is from Scotland, right?’

“I nodded, although I didn’t see Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond in the same light as Sitting Bull.”

Mulgrew, the son of former West Renfrewshire Labour MSP Trish Godman, was accused of helping to ruin US company Enron.

He eventually pleaded guilty to defrauding his employer NatWest. In February 2008, he, along with Darby and Bermingham were sentenced to 37 months in prison. Initially they were jailed in the US, but were later moved to UK prisons.

He was released in 2010 after serving half his sentence.

Mulgrew, 49, also wrote of his fears for fellow Scot Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker suffering from Asperger’s syndrome, accused of hacking into the Pentagon. He warned he faced an ordeal of terrifying brutality if he is extradited. He wrote: “What awaits Gary McKinnon, if he is actually extradited to the US, is unthinkable. Why subject a British citizen to such stress and degradation when they could and should be dealt with here in the United Kingdom?”

In his book he also describes how he turned down the “invitation” to become part of the prison’s Ayran Brotherhood.

He insisted he wanted no part in the gang and told them: “I’m a Scot, from Scotland. I’m British. I play football and eat chips.”

“Embarrassingly, they were the only British credentials I could muster,” he added.