Tony Ferns killers to appeal murder conviction

Two men found guilty of murdering a man by a stab wound to the heart are appealing their conviction.

Raymond Platt, 56, and Joseph McCulloch, 50, were convicted earlier this month of being involved in the fatal attack on Tony Ferns on 18 April 2019.

The 33 year-old was stabbed as he sat in his car having just dropped his girlfriend off at her home in Thornliebank, East Renfrewshire.

Platt – already a convicted killer – was jailed for a minimum 23 years following the trial at the High Court in Glasgow while former engineering firm site manager McCulloch was sentenced to at least 18 years.

The Court of Appeal in Edinburgh confirmed lawyers for each man are now challenging the conviction, but no dates for any potential hearings have been set.

Robert Park, 69, and Craig Colquhoun, 39, were also convicted of murder after trial.

Park and Colquhoun were ordered to serve at least 20 years each.

As yet, no appeal has been lodged by either of them.

Mr Ferns was said to have been murdered following a so-called feud with Park.

Mr Ferns had blamed Park for his disabled brother being injured in a road accident several years earlier.

After a number of clashes between the pair, Park was said to have been the “instigator” in plotting the killing.

Following the attack, Mr Ferns, a tiler, managed to drive a short distance to the house he shared with his mother, but later died as a result of his injuries.

Prosecutors said Platt carried out the stabbing while Colquhoun had been the getaway driver.

The court heard McCulloch had tracked Mr Ferns’ movements before the attack.

Lord Fairley called the murder “a targeted and pre-planned assassination”.