SECURITY IS QUESTIONED AFTER DRUG GANGSTER DINES WITH POLITICIANS

A SCOTTISH drug baron rubbed shoulders with senior politicians at a Labour
Party-backed fundraising function, days before he was gunned down in a
gangland-style execution.

Convicted drug dealer, Justin McAlroy, sat just feet away from Northern
Ireland Secretary John Reid, as Special Branch officers looked on.

Jack McConnell, the First Minister, and a Lanarkshire MP, Frank Roy, also
attended the Red Rose Dinner in Motherwell on 1 March.

Six days later, unemployed McAlroy was shot five times outside his home in
Cambuslang, Lanarkshire. He was the victim of what is believed to be an
ongoing drugs feud in the area that has seen four other men fatally shot in
recent months.

Last night, questions were being asked regarding potential security issues
for senior government ministers, as it emerged that no background checks
were made on guests attending the function in Motherwell's Dalziel Golf and
Country Club.

It was also revealed that Mr Roy, MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, presented
McAlroy's father, Tommy, with a commemorative plaque to mark the opening of
a new function suite at the event.

Earlier, McAlroy, 30, mingled with the VIP guests during pre-dinner drinks.
He was a guest of his father, who is a major shareholder in the club.

An official spokesman for Dr Reid, who yesterday was in Washington for
talks with President Bush, could not confirm that the minister had met the
drug dealer.

Last Thursday, McAlroy returned from a night out with his father before
being shot several times as he cowered under a car, outside his home.

His wife, Tracy, 26, who is four months pregnant, was waiting inside the
couple's UKP120,000 home .

Less than a week earlier, McAlroy had been one of the 200 guests at the
dinner. Guests described how he sat just a few feet away from Dr Reid.

Some expressed surprise that a major criminal, convicted in 1996 for
supplying drugs, could enjoy such convivial surroundings with senior
politicians.

One guest, who refused to be named, said: "I was astonished Justin had
turned up . Many business people in Lanarkshire know about his drugs
conviction and the kind of people he mixed with.

"His presence was a real embarrassment for event organisers. His father
shouldn't have brought him along."

Last night, Labour Party officials tried to play down the embarrassing
incident.

A spokesman for Dr Reid said: "In terms of the protection of the Northern
Ireland Secretary, I don't think you can individually screen every person
that goes to every event that senior politicians go to.

"This dinner was organised by the local Labour Party, and local parties
have no authority to look into the background of people who might be
invited to an event that they're hosting."

The dinner was held to raise funds for local voluntary organisations and
proceeds were also donated to a business breakfast network hosted by Mr Roy
and Mr McConnell.

John Pentland, a North Lanarkshire councillor and the election agent for Mr
Roy, said: "I know Tommy McAlroy because of dinner dances my wife and I
have attended at the club. I knew Justin was his son and Tommy is
absolutely gutted at losing his boy.

"I don't know anything about Justin's background but I knew he was at the
dinner. The dinners are organised frequently and are not to raise money for
the Labour Party."

Although unemployed, McAlroy drove a UKP80,000 Porsche and a 4x4 Mercedes
with a personalised number plate.

Another guest added: "Guys who are unemployed don't usually drive around in
top-of-the-range cars and drink champagne all the time."

An employee at the club said: "It was a very successful event. Justin was
there with his father and mixed with everyone. They are Labour Party
supporters."

McAlroy's murder is being linked to the execution-style killing of John
Hall and David McIntosh, whose bullet-ridden and charred bodies were found
last October in a former scrapyard at Larkhall.

A spokesman for Scottish Labour last night said that neither McAlroy nor
his father were party members. He added: "There is nothing inappropriate in
senior politicians attending a charity function like this."