Engineer made £8.9m from role in drug dealing

Renfrew man turned to crime to ease cash woes like Breaking Bad

- JAMES MULHOLLAND

A ‘capable’ and ‘intelligent’ engineer from Renfrew who turned to drug dealing to ease worries about providing for his family made more than £8.9 million from his life of crime.

Craig Dineen, 33, entered the narcotics trade because he was worried about not being able to keep his loved ones in comfort. But the High Court in Edinburgh heard he was so successful at supplying cannabis that he bought top-of-the-range bling including a Range Rover costing almost £100,000.

In a story similar to the plot line of hit TV show Breaking Bad, the court heard how Dineen and his associates supplied more than a tonne of the drug and generated around £2m in cash. Yesterday, prosecution and defence lawyers settled a proceeds of crime action brought against Dineen at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Both Crown lawyer Carla Fraser and defence counsel Mark Moir KC agreed Dineen had made a total of £8.983m from his life of crime.

However, they agreed Dineen only had £33,916.24 available at this time.

This prompted judge Matthew Jackson KC to pass an order forcing Dineen to hand over £33,000 within six months.

At proceedings earlier this year, defence advocate Ian Duguid KC told Lord Fairley how Dineen started the scam after losing his job at the start of the pandemic.