Sentencing of ‘evil Jesus’ who plotted murder of prosecutor on dark web delayed

Martin Ready, 42, was found guilty earlier this year of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty.

Martin Ready was due to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Archive)

The sentencing of a man convicted of plotting to kill a prosecutor after claiming to identify as “evil Jesus” has been delayed due to the lack of a bed at a secure unit.

Martin Ready, 42, was found guilty of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty by using cryptocurrency to pay for a hitman on the dark web.

Between May 2021 and September 2022, Ready paid £5,071.24 in Bitcoin and sent instructions for Mr Harty to be shot on a dark website called Online Killers Market.

During the trial, Ready told the court he had suffered from delusions that he was “evil Jesus” and believed the murder of Mr Harty would expose organised crime.

The men knew each other from a pub owned by Mr Harty’s family in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.

Ready denied the charge and lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow, but this was rejected by the jury earlier this year.

Ready, who is currently being held at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow, was due to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday.

However this was delayed due to the lack of an available bed at the Rowanbank secure unit.

Ready’s lawyer Brian McConnachie KC said: “The information which your ladyship obtained yesterday was to the effect that firstly Rowanbank did not have availability at the moment.

“Then secondly an indication that because Mr Ready had spent time there before, that before accepting him they might want to carry out their own assessment.”

He added: “We now have two reports from two psychiatrists indicating that Mr Ready is suffering from a mental disorder, namely delusional disorder.

“That’s a disorder that would benefit from treatment, but the position is Mr Ready remains in Barlinnie… in circumstances where he is now receiving no treatment whatsoever.”

Judge Lady Hood said “helpful progress” had been made, but: “The one key matter remaining unresolved is a suitable place in the unit which has been identified, and unfortunately there is no such place at present.”

She said the sentencing diet would be continued at the High Court in Glasgow on January 14 next year.

Ready, dressed in a blue polo-neck T-shirt, attended the hearing by videolink from Barlinnie.