A Perthshire man found dead in a burned-out stolen car was a landscape gardener who had links to a man convicted in connection with a hit on a businessman in Fife.
Police have launched a murder probe into the death of Polish national Rafal Lyko, who previously lived in Auchterarder.
Mr Lyko previously spent time in a Scottish prison over his links to another Polish man convicted in connection with a hit on a Scottish businessman.
He was jailed for four months in 2012 for smuggling a hi-tech spy phone into prison for hitman’s fixer Deyan Nikolov to use while he was on trial for murder.
Nikolov had the tiny smartphone –which looked like an ordinary digital watch –brought to him while he was remanded in maximum security Perth Prison.
Nikolov was subsequently jailed for a minimum of 18 years for the part he played in the fatal shooting of businessman Mohammed Nadeem Siddique in Glenrothes in October 2010.
He and two other men were found guilty of murder.
The victim’s brother, Mohammed Azam Siddique, 41, was also jailed for a minimum of 25 years.
He was found to have hired Bulgarian Tencho Andonov as a hitman to execute his brother over their business rivalry.
Andonov was ordered to serve a minimum of 29 years.
Property developer Mo Siddique was found guilty of ordering the execution of his millionaire brother over a business dispute after one of Scotland’s longest criminal trials.
Tencho Andonov and nightclub bouncer Nikolov, who acted as the fixer, were also convicted of playing key roles in the shooting of Toby Siddique, 38.
Andonov, the man who pulled the trigger in a flat in Glenrothes was also convicted of attempting to murder former security man David Dalgleish, 44, who lived there.
Police Scotland’s major investigation team are now investigating the murder of Mr Lyko, 36, and are probing possible links between the contract killing eight years ago and the discovery of his body.
Mr Lyko was discovered in a burning car in Blantyre last week.
After returning to Scotland from Poland, he had visited his parents in Auchterarder on
February 9 before making his fateful trip to Lanarkshire.
He was also seen in Crieff.
Police revealed the burned-out car in which he was found had been stolen in the Oxgangs area of Edinburgh last month.
