A judge has ordered that a man who planned to kill a prosecutor while claiming to be suffering from delusions that he was “evil Jesus” should be moved to a medium secure mental health unit ahead of his sentencing in May.
Martin Ready, 42, was found guilty of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty by using cryptocurrency to hire a hitman on the dark web following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow in 2024.
Between May 2021 and September 2022, Ready paid more than £5,000 in Bitcoin and sent instructions for Mr Harty to be shot on a dark website called Online Killers Market, which turned out to be fraudulent.
During the trial, the court heard that Ready had suffered from delusions that he was “evil Jesus” and believed if Mr Harty was murdered, organised crime in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire – where Mr Harty’s family owned a pub – would be exposed.
The court heard that the men knew each other from the pub, but had not seen one another for years before the plot.
Ready denied the charge and lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility but was convicted and remanded in custody at HMP Barlinnie.
On Tuesday, February 11, at the High Court in Kilmarnock, judge Lady Hood issued an interim compulsion order requiring Ready to be moved to the Rowanbank Clinic medium secure unit in Glasgow ahead of his sentencing.
This order had been delayed for some weeks due to a lack of a bed at the unit but, at Tuesday’s hearing, Ready’s lawyer Brian McConnachie KC confirmed a bed at the clinic was now available.
“As a result of the last hearing it has now been indicated that there is now a bed available at Rowanbank, and your ladyship is now in a position to make an interim compulsion order,” he told the court.
He added that the order would last for a period of 12 weeks, and that Ready would therefore be in a position to be sentenced on May 5 2025.
Lady Hood said: “Mr Ready, on August 29 2025 at the High Court in Glasgow you were found guilty by a jury of a charge of attempted conspiracy to murder.”
She told him she was “satisfied” on the basis of medical reports that he was mentally ill.
“Reports have been prepared by two psychiatrists,” she said.
“They are both of the opinion that you suffer a mental disorder, namely delusional disorder.”
She told him that his case had been continued “in order to ascertain that place is available in a suitable hospital, which would be able to accept you in the timescale set out in legislation”.
She added: “The court has now received confirmation that a place is now available for you and is being held for you at Rowanbank Clinic.”
Lady Hood said: “Having considered all of the circumstances involved and the nature of the offence, I am satisfied it is appropriate to make an interim compulsion order.”
The order, she explained, will “authorise” his admittance to, and treatment at, Rowanbank Clinic, until the case calls again at Glasgow High Court on May 5 2025.
Ready attended the hearing remotely over video link from Barlinnie prison, dressed in a blue polo shirt and jeans and with his hair cropped short.
He showed no reaction as the order was handed down.
Ready is due to be sentenced at Glasgow High Court on May 5 2025.