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Murder plot Dundee businessman sent back to jail for stalking campaign

Imran Sakur, jailed in 2010 for plotting to kill a man in Edinburgh, has been convicted again.

Imran Sakur, pictured here in 2010, has been returned to prison.
Imran Sakur, pictured here in 2010, has been returned to prison.

A thug who plotted to murder a businessman outside a casino is back behind bars after terrorising his ex-lover.

Imran Sakur, 49, met his victim in an Edinburgh sauna but she became concerned about his behaviour and tried to end the affair.

Spurned Sakur left her terrified by sending threatening text messages and voice notes.

He vandalised her car and scrawled abusive messages on it before police were called in and he was arrested.

Sakur, of Broughty Ferry, appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court and admitted stalking the woman at addresses in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Annan, Dumfriesshire, between May 2022 and January.

Sheriff Paul Haran jailed him for 20 months but told him it would run alongside the rest of an 11-year sentence for conspiracy to murder.

Imran Sakur
Imran Sakur pictured in 2010.

Sakur was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh for his role in a plot to murder businessman Tony Demarco.

He was said to have masterminded the scheme over unpaid debts but Demarco survived being shot as he returned to his car in June 2008.

Sakur had been released from jail on licence in 2017 but his earliest release date is now in 2025.

Slashed tyres and damaged car

Depute fiscal Lauren Cole told how Sakur had tormented his victim.

She said: “The witness left her motor vehicle in Edinburgh and later returned to find it damaged, with two nearside tyres slashed and the phrases ‘slag’, ‘whore’ and ‘bitch’ were written.

“In January this year she drove to her mother’s address in Annan to collect her children and parked her vehicle.

“She returned to the motor vehicle and found tyres slashed and the vehicle covered in blue paint.

“Police later recovered CCTV from Annan high street and two males were seen to exit the accused’s car and cause damage.

“The same vehicle was also spotted on the motorway in South Lanarkshire, which would be consistent with him driving from Annan.”

The prosecutor added: “He alleges he met her in a sauna but she disputes that.”

‘Felt betrayed’

Joseph Myles, defending, claimed Sakur had given the woman around £10,000 and felt upset at being used for cash.

“His position is that he met the complainer in a sauna in Edinburgh around July 2021 where she gave him her number and they subsequently met and began a relationship.

“She would then ask to borrow money on the understanding it would be paid back but it never was.

“He fell heavily for (her) and he thought, perhaps naively, that she had feelings for him but it appears on reflection that all along she had an agenda and it was all about money.

“He felt betrayed and used and at that point broken but should not have acted the way he did.”

Non-harassment

Sheriff Haran said: “You were engaged in a course of conduct towards her over a prolonged period and it is clear there were multiple occasions where she sought to make it abundantly clear that she did not wish to have an ongoing relationship with you.

“Damaging her vehicle on two occasions is concerning but I note there was no violence towards her but will feel the effects of this for some time to go.”

Sakur was handed an indefinite non-harassment order banning him from contacting his victim in any way.

Murder plot

Property wheeler-dealer Sakur was jailed in 2010 for the murder plot, along with his “fixer”, Dundee man Craig Kelbie, who was also given 11 years.

Their accomplices Jamie Robertson – who pulled the trigger outside the Maybury Casino on the night of June 3 2008 and getaway driver Francis McGlone, both of Paisley were given 11 and 10 years respectively.

All four had been found guilty of conspiracy to murder and attempted murder.

Jamie Robertson, Francis McGlone, Craig Kelbie and Imran Saku
Jamie Robertson, Francis McGlone, Craig Kelbie and Imran Saku. Image: Lothian  Police.

The trial heard how Sakur laughed and joked with his intended victim just minutes before the shooting plan was put into effect and then pretended to chase black-clad Robertson, who blasted Mr Demarco in the back of the head at close range.

The bullet bounced off his skull was still lodged in his cheek by the time of the trial.

In court, the victim repeatedly denied Sakur owed him money but no other motive for the shooting was suggested.

Sakur had a year added to his sentence shortly afterwards for wasting police time by lying that a £30,000 Mercedes he had hired had been stolen in Dundee.

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