Unseen photographs of Paul Ferris with Manchester "Mr Big" Paul Massey have been shared online by the slain gangster's daughter, Lindsey Massey, following Ferris's funeral.
The images were posted after Ferris, 62, was laid to rest at Daldowie Crematorium in Uddingston on Monday. Lindsey Massey shared a video containing a series of pictures with the captions: "Beautiful send off for Mr Paul Ferris" and "Reunited with my dad now."
Family tributes and funeral footage
The footage also showed members of the Massey family travelling up the motorway before a road sign welcomed them to Scotland. Ms Massey was seen holding the order of service from the funeral, and mourners were shown enjoying food and drinks at Ferris's wake at the King's Park Hotel in Rutherglen.
She also shared an earlier post paying tribute to Ferris following his death, featuring a picture of him at a football game alongside her father, who was gunned down outside his home in the Salford area of Manchester in 2015. The post was captioned: "RIP Paul Ferris. You were a lovely man."
Friendship rooted in the 1990s
Ferris met Massey when he fled to Manchester from Scotland after being cleared of murdering Arthur Thompson Junior in 1992. The pair are understood to have been introduced by Glasgow criminal Rab Carruthers, who controlled the heroin and cocaine flooding into Scotland from his base in the north west of England in the early 90s. Massey and Ferris quickly formed a close friendship that lasted for the rest of their lives.
In the 1990s, Massey, known as "Mr Big" despite being only about 1.72 metres (5ft 8ins) tall, was well known throughout Greater Manchester for criminal activities, particularly the sale of drugs during the 1990s rave scene. He established several security companies and, through these businesses, he and his gang controlled the doors of several city nightclubs. He also served as a mediator between rival organised crime firms in Greater Manchester. At the time of his death 11 years ago, his family insisted he had tried to turn his life around.
Funeral attended by over 100 mourners
Ferris attended Massey's funeral after his execution, and his old friend's loved ones returned the favour by joining over 100 mourners this week, including ex-UDA boss Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair, former world champion boxer Alex Arthur, and actor Paul Brannigan. Pictures showed crowds dressed in black as a piper led the cortege to the doors of the crematorium, and floral arrangements spelling out the words "legend" and "dad" were seen inside the hearse.
Dozens of flash cars including Mercedes and BMWs were parked on the roads outside as people gathered to pay their respects. Tearful mourners watched as his coffin was carried into the crematorium to "I won't back down" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. A humanist celebrant led the hour-long service and introduced himself as Tony Welsh, joking that he wasn't from "that Welsh family," referencing the family whom Ferris admitted attacking with knives after they bullied him during his childhood in the Blackhill area of Glasgow.
The service ended as the celebrant asked the crowd if Ferris had really gone straight for the last 25 years, and quipped: "As Paul would say, no comment." Elton John's Your Song was played as the curtains were drawn. Mr Welsh added Ferris was now back with his parents, and best friends Joe Hanlon and Bobby Glover, who were shot dead after the murder of Arthur Thompson Junior in 1991.
