Garage boss loses bid to sue cops for saying he was a gangster

 

A GARAGE owner’s bid to sue police for £200,000 for branding him a crook was thrown out yesterday. David Lyons – who is part of the notorious Lyons crime family – said he was defamed when police claimed he was involved in “serious and organised crime, including trafficking and supply of class A drugs”. Lyons insisted that although members of his family had been in serious trouble, he was an honest businessman. He also said police had no evidence to back up their claims. The 52-year-old, who runs Applerow Motors in Lambhill, Glasgow, brought acivil action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Lyons had his MoT licence revoked two years ago following representations made by Strathclyde Police to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA). In his action, Lyons said he lost the licence because police had branded him a “career criminal”. He said the loss of his MoT licence cost him him £7000 a year in lost trade. And he said some people shunned him because police had given him a bad name. Lyons claimed it was inferred that he used his garage business as “a front”. But he insisted he had “no relevant previous convictions and has led a straight life”. Lady Smith dismissed the action after lawyers acting for Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House challenged it at a procedural debate. House argued in theaction that when police passed on their intelligence, they were acting lawfullyand in good faith. Ranald MacPherson,solicitor advocate for the chief constable, told Lady Smith: “They have simply communicated, as they have to, that this intelligence exists.” Lyons’s brother Eddie is head of a drug-dealing Glasgow crime clan. And his son Paul is a well-known crook serving 12 years for a road rage killing. Applerow Motors was the scene of a gangland murder in 2006. Lyons’s nephew Michael Lyons, 21, was killed and two others were wounded. Two men were later jailed for 35 years. Lyons said: “There are people in my family involved in crime but why should I be held responsible for them? “I have never touched drugs, sold drugs or had anything to do with drugs.”