The Natwest Three and the boy from Pollok

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The Natwest Three and the boy from Pollok

Postby riot grrl » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:22 pm

Gary Mulgrew is facing extradition to the US as one of the NatWest Three on wire fraud charges, as I'm sure many of you already know.

He grew up in Dormanside Road in Pollok, very near to where I lived, and went to the same schools as me, in the same year.

I think his story is quite incredible, as he became a millionaire through his own hard graft, but he wasn't anyone who particularly stood out at school as being outstandingly able or gifted, he wasn't a big personality, he wasn't a troublemaker, but obviously he had a lot of quiet determination and inner reserve.

Dormanside Road is the worse place I have ever known, it was nasty. Really nasty. I lived in Linthaugh Road, which ran parallel with Dormanside Road, but to me it was no-go.

So, I have enormous respect for any kid who could rise above that, and I have a lot of admiration for the Gary Mulgrew for that alone.

As for whether he had his fingers in the till doing some dodgy deal, it's not for me to say. Only he and the other two know for sure and no doubt we will learn more as the story unfolds. He was already at the top of his game before he was involved in that deal.

It's a good story, for sure.
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Postby ramor69 » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:43 pm

I had family in Dormanside and didn't visit
too much as the place was nuts, from what
I remember, Linthaugh wasn't much better
but being an outsider from the conservation
village of Govan probably didn't help my
opinion of the place. ::):

No doubt in time, Mr. Mulgrew will have a
book out and then a film with Ewan
McGregor playing him. :o
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Postby riot grrl » Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:25 pm

Too right, Dormanside Road was Bam Central. Scary place.

I have a feeling that Gary Mulgrew will somehow find a way to prosper from being one of the NatWest Three. His story would make a good book, for sure.

Robert Carlyle would make a good Mulgrew as he could do good Glasgow hardman brokering the big money deals, but Ewan McGregor would make a nice sort of media friendly Mulgrew.

It was only ever a matter of time before kids from Dormanside Road ended up in jail. Gary Mulgrew is just taking longer to get there ::):
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Postby DVF » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:44 am

Was at a wedding with him a couple of years ago. Really nice guy, awfy tall though. I thought he was a farmer at first (he was late getting to the wedding because he couldn't find anyone to look after his sheepdog so he had to smuggle it on the train and into the hotel). It was her brothers wedding and at our table was the stag party boys and us. All the stag party boys were millionaires. Still really nice guys though.

Gary openly admitted doing what they say he did, but said it is standard practice and all the banks do it on a daily basis. Is he still trying to get arrested here so they can't deport him?
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Postby riot grrl » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:22 pm

I'm absolutely certain that what the NatWest Three did was just common practice. My own feeling about this is that these guys are taking the rap so that somebody somewhere doesn't have to.

Like I said before, I admire Gary Mulgrew for his success. He worked for it. I genuinely hope that he doesn't get extradited to the US, and that he doesn't end up in some American prison. If there was a case to answer, then he and the others shoud be tried in the UK. Their involvement with Enron was only tangential, from what I can tell. I don't know the whole story.

I really wish him luck. I'm another fugitive from Pollok, after all, so what do you expect? :wink:

I think the appeal against the extradition is going to the House Of Lords, as it failed in the High Court. So it's still as case of watch this space ...
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Postby kokotheclown » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:51 pm

Here are the charges. Whether its common practise or not, fraud is still wrong. A more pertinent question might be why they are not also facing charges in the UK.

http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com ... 702aff.pdf
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Postby motman » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:10 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5163982.stm
So our Dear Leader is going to ask the Great Satin to keep his side of the bargain.
Aye right. Watch all the wet fish flying around :evil:
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Postby escotregen » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:36 pm

There are some striking issues about this case:

1. My understanding is the USA has not signed up to the treaty under which these British subjects are being extradited - but the British Government has signed. And anyway, the treaty is yet another piece of nasty legislation justified on the grounds of the so-called war against terrorism. So why does our Government desert its own subjects in the name of an treaty that the extraditing country has not signed and that was never intended for this purpose?

2. The Royal Bank of Scotland (parent of Natwest, the 'defendents' employers) is widely reported to be refusing to disclose absolutely any of its information on the case. All 3 'defendents' say that the account history will show that all the business was conducted in the UK - therefore, if there is any case to be brought it should be tried in the U.K courts in accordance with normal practice and protocol. If the reports are true, why would one of the biggest UK banks refuse to provide the information that allegedly would provide their own employees with the basis of a fair and free trial in the UK? (of course the 3 'defendents' desperately want the information as they claim it would clearly and immediately prove there is no case againt them).

Of course I'm sure that Royal Bank of Scotland's alleged reluctance is nothing to do with allegations that they are facing posssible charges themselves in the USA to do with the same Enron case. I mean it would be very wrong of anyone to suggest that they just did not want to upset the USA legal authorities by being seen to help their own employees.

3. Re the awful Dormanside Street origins of one 'defendent': Some members may remember the stitched-up, or disgraced, (according to your view) left-wing council leader T Dan Smith in North West England in the 1970s. After serving his sentence, he said to the effect that he had learned that when the human waste material hits the fan, if you weren't an establishment insider from birth, then you get chewed up, spat out and stamped on by the powers-that-be when it's in those powers' own interests.
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Postby Roxburgh » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:34 pm

You may wish to read the following articles as being a bit more balanced than the recent PR blitz by the 3:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 11,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 58,00.html
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Re: The Natwest Three and the boy from Pollok

Postby Roxburgh » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:46 pm

riot grrl wrote:I think his story is quite incredible, as he became a millionaire through his own hard graft, but he wasn't anyone who particularly stood out at school as being outstandingly able or gifted, he wasn't a big personality, he wasn't a troublemaker, but obviously he had a lot of quiet determination and inner reserve.


Not to belittle his achievement, however it is worth pointing out that Gary Mulgrew is the stepson of Dr Norman Godman who was MP for Greenock and Inverclyde (and its earlier incarnations) between 1983 and 2001. His mother is Trish Godman, MSP for West Renfrewhire since 1999.

So while his origins may be humble, he is very much a scion of the Scottish Labour establishment.
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Re: The Natwest Three and the boy from Pollok

Postby Dexter St. Clair » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:48 am

Roxburgh wrote:
So while his origins may be humble, he is very much a scion of the Scottish Labour establishment.


Or a son as people without a dictionary would say.
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Postby tedmaul » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:54 am

Roxburgh wrote:You may wish to read the following articles as being a bit more balanced than the recent PR blitz by the 3:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 11,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 58,00.html


Indeed.

How foolish are certain sections of the British press going to look when the three are found guilty or, better still, confess in order to reduce their sentence?
Jim Hacker: "Are you saying that winking at corruption is government policy?"
Sir Humphrey: "No, no, Minister. It could never be government policy. That is unthinkable. Only government practice."
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Postby riot grrl » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:19 am

I feel certain that there is more than meets the eye to this case, and no doubt when the case goes to trial we will learn more of the details. I'm not saying that the NatWest Three are "innocent", either. Just a shame that Gary Mulgrew had it all and blew it.

I don't think it's quite fair to see that Gary Mulgrew is a son of the political establishment. His mother may be now, but she wasn't always married to Norman Godman and she wasn't always an MSP. She raised her kids as a single parent in a difficult environment. Trish Godman is quite clearly a very capable woman in her own right. Nobody handed it to her on a plate.

The Extradition Act does have wider political and legal implications, for sure, and has often been the focus of debate throughout this case. I also agree that the NatWest Three have presented themselves in a favourable light in the pursuit of representing their own interests ie not being extradited to the USA and thereby avoiding the more punitive US legal system.

All the same, when it's a guy you were at school with and someone who lived one street away from you when you were a kid, it's both interesting and sad. He blew it, maybe through his own greed, or arrogance, or lust for power. It's tragic, really. He worked hard, he had his lucky breaks, he had it all. And now he's facing the prospect of a long stretch in a US penitentiary.
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