Craig Windsor was quizzed following the murder of Glasgow gangster Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll.
Craig Windsor (Image: Daily Record)
A former gangland figure who once claimed to rake in a fortune through a protection racket has now admitted being a serial shoplifter.
Craig Windsor was quizzed by police following the murder of Glasgow gangster Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll in 2010 after guns used in the killing were found near his Lanarkshire boxing gym.
Police warned him at least 10 times that his life was in danger from rival criminals.
The former professional boxer wrote a book, ‘From Beechwood to Hollywood’, detailing his life of crime.
He claimed that his security company had earned him thousands of pounds a week in payments from ‘protected’ businesses.
Windsor recalled: “There was so much money I didn’t know what to do with it. I used to go to Blackpool to spend some of it.
“I bought Rolex watches, nice gear and cars like a white Mercedes with blacked out windows. I was changing my cars all the time.”
But Windsor, who went on to run a sports supplement business in his home town of Coatbridge, ran into financial difficulties.
Two years ago he narrowly avoided prison when he admitted conning the taxman out of nearly £10,000.
A court heard he submitted false invoices, claiming to have purchased huge quantities of products for his business when he hadn’t.
He was given a three-year supervision order and told he must repay £9,717.
Windsor, 42, was back in the dock at Airdrie Sheriff Court on Wednesday, to face six charges of shoplifting.
Sentence had been deferred for good behaviour and the court heard he has stayed out of trouble since the last hearing in January.
Sheriff Derek Livingston said the shoplifting had been a “course of conduct” that had to be taken seriously, but Windsor appeared to be getting some benefit from his existing supervision order.
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The sheriff told him: “You are keeping your nose clean.”
Windsor was ordered to carry out 50 hours of unpaid community work.