Jailed solicitor Alistair Blackwood who amassed £1m crime fortune to repay just £1

Alistair Blackwood, 70, made £1,086,581 while working at a Paisley law firm, but prosecutors and defence lawyers told the High Court in Edinburgh that none of the sum can now be recovered.

The order was issued during proceeds of crime proceedings against Blackwood and his accomplices – fellow solicitors Iain Robertson, 72, and David Lyons, 74, along with Mohammed Aziz, 63, and Robert Ferguson, 69.

The group was convicted after a nine-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow, which followed a Law Society investigation into Robertson & Ross, the Paisley firm at the centre of the £1.5m money-laundering scheme.

Prosecutors said Blackwood’s benefit from the racket amounted to more than £1m. Bryan Heaney, prosecuting, asked Judge John Morris KC to make an order requiring him to pay £1, which must be lodged with the sheriff clerk’s office in Perth within three months. Mr Heaney added that the Crown could return to court if investigators later discovered hidden assets.

Robertson, Lyons and Aziz were also convicted of involvement in serious organised crime. All five men were jailed for fraud and offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Jurors heard the scheme centred on four fraudulent transactions between May 2015 and July 2016. These included a £79,340 stolen cheque, £240,000 from a bogus London property sale, £985,000 taken from the hacked bank account of a football club owner, and £181,786 generated from a fraudulent house sale in Essex linked to Ferguson.

Each transaction was routed through Robertson & Ross’s client bank account, with false records and forged identification documents used to disguise the funds.

The Law Society raised concerns over suspicious transactions before alerting police. Robertson, who was suspended alongside Blackwood, was described as being central to the scheme due to his control over the firm’s client account.

At an earlier hearing, Robertson, who represented himself, asked Judge Olga Pasportnikov to excuse him from a court date because he was on “home leave” from prison to attend a wedding.

Judge Morris has now authorised the £1 order against Blackwood, while actions against his co-accused continue.