A former Scots drug trafficker turned musician has been invited back to the Spanish prison where he was incarcerated to perform for inmates.
Allan McCarthy, 61, from Glasgow, was convicted of drug trafficking and served a six-and-a-half year sentence at Sangonera de la Verde prison in Murcia when he was just 23.
The former Glasgow Caledonian University student had moved to the Costa Del Sol to organise entertainment for tourists.
But he soon landed himself in prison after cops stopped a car he was travelling in and found cannabis in Murcia in 1988.
During his sentence, McCarthy became involved in the prison’s music workshop and created the band Berlin90. And three years into his sentence, in 1991, they were granted day release by prison chiefs and recorded the single Runaway – penned by McCarthy in his cell.
At the time, the song won the inmates a recording session in a national music competition. Berlin90 were transported to a recording studio in armoured vans alongside armed escort vehicles, a fleet of prison staff, friends and various press vehicles in tow.
Now, years away from a life of crime, the former jailbird is re-releasing Runaway with a slick new music video, filmed recently in his hometown of Barrhead by BAFTA award-winning director Iain Henderson.
In a shocking turn of events, he’s also been asked to return to the Murcia-based prison, where he served most of his sentence, to perform a gig for current inmates – which will be broadcast on Spanish radio.
The Berlin90’s frontman revealed he recently met with Sangonera de la Verde prison guards for a pint, where they asked him to return to his old digs and perform.
He said: “I’ve been asked to go back and play the prison. A year ago, I was having a few pints with the old guards – baring in mind they’re all in high positions now – and he asked me to return. By the time I go back, it may be the 35th anniversary of my release.
“Returning will be my lifeline.”
For a short time, Berlin90 were headline news in Spain, appearing on television, radio and newspapers often referred to as “Jailhouse Rock” and “The Bad Boys of Rock”.
Runaway became a huge hit in Spain in the late 80s, making the charts and even allowing the band an opportunity to play at local music venues – something that the Scotsman claims was against all rules.
McCarthy, a former Costa Del Sol resident said: “We’d be at concerts, playing for people in the council, documentary makers, locals. We were doing something all the time and if we weren’t doing that we were rehearsing.”
However, the band’s high was short-lived as he was soon transferred to Madrid’s notorious Carabanchel maximum security prison over 200 miles away, which effectively ended the band.
In a much more brutal jail, McCarthy wouldn’t venture into the outside world until his release in the early 1990s, four years into his sentence, when he was promptly deported from Spain.
Speaking about his time in Carabanchel, he told The Record, said: “Everyone got threatened with Carabanchel, it was like the bogeyman. I’d compare it to Alcatraz.
“One afternoon this guard woke me up, and told me I was going to Carabanchel. Next thing I know, without speaking to anyone, I’m in a van for about five days to a week travelling to Madrid.”
He added: “At the time, it was the worst prison in Europe. Narco’s the TV series is set on the time period that I was in Carabanchel, which highlights how dangerous it really was.
“I shouldn’t have been there, that place was brutal, people were dying on a daily basis, whether it was thrown off balconies or being shot by the guards, it was chaos.”
After his release from jail, McCarthy returned to Scotland, having been banned from Spain for 10 years. He claims his family kept him on the straight and narrow. He later took up work in magazine publishing and has worked with the likes of the Scotch Whisky Association.
After his 10-year ban was up, the 61-year-old returned to Spain and spent most of his time there, before returning to Barrhead just after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Scot has lived a colourful life and is seemingly eager to get back to Spain and continue Berlin90’s legacy.
You can listen to Runaway here.
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