Crooks owe Scots authorities £5million after being ordered to pay back profits from their crimes

Daily Mail​

31-05-2025

Criminals ordered to repay the profits of their crimes still owe the authorities £5 million, with critics branding the failure to recoup the cash an 'insult to victims'.
Data from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) shows there are currently 89 so-called 'confiscation orders' in arrears, worth a total of £5,065,459.
The orders require criminals to pay back money they have gained via illegal activities under proceeds of crime laws.
But a number of crooks continue to owe large sums of cash, despite the court orders being handed out more than a decade ago.
Shockingly, there were two confiscation orders with outstanding payments due of more than £500,000, while several others are also for six figure sums.
The largest amount owed is £560,881 in relation to late brothel madam Margaret Paterson, who pimped out women in Edinburgh for 10 years.
She was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in 2013 after being convicted of brothel-keeping as well as money laundering and living on the earnings of prostitution.
She was ordered to pay £1 million but died in 2019 before coughing up the bulk of the cash leaving prosecutors to try to recover the rest of the money from her estate.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'These shocking figures are proof crime pays under the soft-touch SNP. It's clear our proceeds of crime laws are simply not fit for purpose, with wealthy criminals having nothing to fear.
'Complacent SNP ministers are failing to address the scale of organised crime in Scotland and must give our police, prosecutors and courts the resources they need to do their jobs and recover this money.'
He added: 'Hard-working Scots will be appalled that this money is not being repaid by offenders, especially at a time when Nationalist ministers are cutting services and hiking taxes.
'The fact criminals are allowed to get away with this is another insult to victims of crime, who always seem to be an afterthought in the SNP's justice system.' Among the ten highest-value orders, half were imposed before 2016, with one of them dating back to 2012.
According to figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives via freedom of information laws, no repayments had been made on six of the top ten highest sums, while others only had a small portion of the order paid back.
Funds recovered through confiscation orders are used to help improve local communities.
Since 2008, £130 million has been invested in community initiatives.
An SCTS spokesman said: 'A confiscation order may take some time to recover in full.
'The period within which financial penalties should be paid is a matter for the judiciary.'
A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Payment of the order is supervised by the court. Where payment is not made, further action to recover the balance can be taken by the courts.'