Two Scottish gangsters who conspired to murder a “grass” with the help of a Liverpool hitman have failed in a bid to reduce their prison sentences. David Nisbet and Declan McCuish were jailed last year for 13 and 11 years respectively for conspiring to kill Ryan Carvill in Glasgow in 2020.
Failed assassination attempt
The assassination attempt failed when potential hitman James Richards, of Liverpool, pulled out at the last minute. EncroChat messages from April 2020 showed Nisbet suggested three potential hitmen but an agreement was reached with Richards.
McCuish was in charge of securing a hideout for Richards, while another man, Anthony Connell, messaged his accomplices about a “Scouser wanting to blow him away”. An agreement was reached for Richards to be paid £70,000 for the hit and he was collected from Liverpool before being taken up to Scotland.
Cold feet and getaway concerns
Richards was given a gun on April 11 of that year and was taken on a tour of places where his victim was likely to be that day. But Richards got “cold feet” and shared concerns over the car he would be using to get away from the scene of the murder. Messages obtained from the encrypted messaging platform showed Richards requested a faster car or a motorbike.
Richards returned to Liverpool on April 13 but police officers stopped his car on the M74. Nothing of note was found in the vehicle, but a subsequent analysis of EncroChat - which had been hacked by European law enforcement - revealed the scope of his involvement in the murder conspiracy.
Sentences and appeal
Richards was later arrested in connection with the plot in June 2021 but was released under investigation. He then fled to Spain and remained there until he was extradited in January 2026. He was eventually sentenced to seven years and six months.
Nisbet and McCuish denied conspiring to murder Carvill, but were found guilty of the offence, which was carried out at addresses in Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Liverpool. Prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel said Nisbet “called the shots” and the gang “sought to turn the streets of Glasgow into a warzone” in a bid to catch the target. Carvill, who moved between Glasgow and Dubai, was also jailed for his role in a narcotics supply operation.
At an appeal court hearing last month, Nisbet, who did not have a lawyer, told Lord Beckett, Lord Matthews and Lord Ericht that sentences given to people convicted of similar offences were not as long as the term he was sentenced to. He asked the appeal court to reduce his sentence “in the interests of justice”. Meanwhile McCuish's lawyer told judges the sentence was too harsh as he did not play as large a role in the conspiracy as other people who participated in it. He said the judge who dealt with McCuish's case should have imposed a lesser sentence.
In a written judgement, Lord Beckett wrote: “We are not persuaded that it was an excessive sentence, there was no miscarriage of justice.” Both appeals were refused.
