A man who identified as “evil Jesus” and plotted on the dark web to kill a prosecutor has been ordered to remain at a secure mental health facility indefinitely.
Martin Ready was last year found guilty of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty in a plot apparently inspired by a conspiracy theory about alleged corruption at a pub in Scotland.
His scheme involved setting up cryptocurrency accounts, using a site on the dark web to find a hitman, and paying £5,071.24 in Bitcoin.
The planning was said to have occurred between May 2021 and September 2022.
Ready denied the charge and lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
However, he was found guilty . He claimed in his evidence that he planned the murder to expose alleged organised crime in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.
Ready told the court he believed he was “Jesus” in autumn 2021 and suffered a relapse in January 2022 when he believed he was “evil Jesus”.
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He said: “At the time, I genuinely believed I was Jesus and that the actions I took were to expose the criminality I had been subjected to.”
Ready was subsequently diagnosed by psychiatrists as suffering from “delusional disorder” and has been receiving treatment at the Rowanbank Clinic in Glasgow.
Returning to court on Wednesday, judge Lady Hood heard from one of his doctors, Dr Sivakumar Appan, who testified that Ready “does not believe he is mentally ill” and “does not believe he needs medication”.
The consultant forensic psychiatrist raised concerns that Ready was likely to stop taking his medication and disengage from mental health services – as he had done so before – and would therefore pose a significant risk to himself and to the public.
Judge Lady Hood followed the recommendations from medical professionals and imposed compulsion and restriction orders to ensure he receives continued treatment at the medium secure facility.
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Pub conspiracy theory-inspired plot
The trial heard Ready and Mr Harty knew each other from a pub owned by the victim’s family in Coatbridge.
Ready claimed his motivation for plotting the murder on the dark web – which was exposed by a documentary-maker – was to reveal “money washing” which he alleged was happening at the pub.
The court heard the website he used was later found to be a front for a scam.
Ready said he chose Mr Harty as a victim because of his connection with the pub, rather than due to personal issues, and believed his death “would turn on his links to organised crime”.
Mr Harty gave evidence at the trial and said money laundering was “absolutely not” happening at the pub, where he worked around a decade ago while at university.
He said he remembered Ready as he was teetotal and would order coffee, which was “irritating” due to how busy the pub was.
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Mental health treatment
During court proceedings, Ready claimed being remanded at HMP Barlinnie, after the murder plot was exposed in September 2022, had improved his mental health as it got him out of Coatbridge.
Ready was transferred to the Rowanbank Clinic full-time in February, with the interim compulsion order extended multiple times.
He has since undergone a lengthy period of in-patient treatment, which was said to have reduced some symptoms despite medication changes due to side effects.
The court heard how Ready was an intelligent man who was capable of “masking” the symptoms of his mental disorder.
But Dr Appan added: “He harbours these very significant and dangerous beliefs.”
Lady Hood branded the crime as a “very serious offence”.
She added: “It involved a considerable degree of planning on your part.”
As well as the compulsion and restriction orders detaining Ready indefinitely, he was additionally banned from contacting his victim.
