A Glasgow gangster has lost a bid to overturn his conviction for the murder of a Dutch crime writer outside a sex club.
Christopher Hughes was jailed for life last year and ordered to serve at least 25 years in prison before he can seek release on parole following the execution of Martin Kok in the Netherlands.
The 34-year-old was a long term part of a major crime clan involved in drugs, guns and encrypted phones and lured Kok (49) to his death before he was shot eight times in the head and body by a gunman at Laren on December 8 in 2016.
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Hughes had denied murdering Kok but was convicted following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. The trial judge, Lady Scott, described it as a "planned and ruthless murder".
After a visit to the Boccaccio club with Kok Hughes held back as the target for the assassination went to his car where he gunned down.
Hughes challenged his conviction at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh claiming that the trial judge had failed to adequately direct the jury on the approach to be taken to be taken on prior statements made by an incriminee and police informer, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
This man gave evidence crucial to the Crown case against him.
The male worked for the crime group but was recruited by the police in 2016 and received payments from the force.
Lady Scott told jurors at Hughes' trial that if they did not find the informer credible and reliable then they must acquit Hughes.
But Scotland’s senior judge, the Lord Justice General Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord Matthews and Lord Boyd of Duncansby refused the appeal.
Lord Matthews, who gave the appeal court decision, said: "There being no substance to the only ground which has been given leave to appeal, it follows that this appeal must be refused."
"The jury did not require to be given any directions beyond those they received about their function in assessing credibility and reliability. There is nothing exceptional in this case which takes it out of the generality." he said.
Lord Matthews said the murder of Kok, a former criminal who became a crime writer and ran a website, was "a planned assassination".
An attempt was made to shoot him shortly before he was gunned down at his car in the club car park.
The appeal judge said: "The appellant was with him at the relevant times and the issue was whether he was proved to have been a party to the crimes, which were caught on CCTV ."
The informer said that in 2017 during a stay at Hughes flat in Antwerp in Belgium Hughes admitted his participation in both the attempted murder and murder of Kok.
He said that as they left the club he was told to hold back so that he was not caught in crossfire at the fatal shooting and he had stopped to pet a cat.
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