Sentencing of a man who identified as “evil Jesus” and plotted on the dark web to kill a prosecutor has been postponed for two months for further psychiatric assessment and treatment.
Martin Ready was found guilty last year of attempting to conspire to murder Darren Harty in a plot apparently inspired by a conspiracy theory about alleged corruption at a pub in Scotland.
His scheme involved setting up cryptocurrency accounts, using a site on the dark web to find a hitman, and paying £5,071.24 in Bitcoin.
The planning was said to have occurred between May 2021 and September 2022.
Ready denied the charge and lodged a special defence of lacking criminal responsibility during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
However, he was found guilty after giving evidence, claiming he planned the murder to expose alleged organised crime in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.
Ready told the court he believed he was “Jesus” in autumn 2021 and suffered a relapse in January 2022 when he believed he was “evil Jesus”.
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He said: “At the time, I genuinely believed I was Jesus and that the actions I took were to expose the criminality I had been subjected to.”
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Ready was remanded in custody at HMP Barlinnie following his conviction.
During a hearing in December 2024, defence lawyer Brian McConnachie KC told judge Lady Hood how reports from two psychiatrists concluded his client was suffering from “delusional disorder”.
In February this year, Lady Hood imposed an interim compulsion order which saw Ready moved to the Rowanbank Clinic in Glasgow for further psychiatric assessment and treatment ahead of any sentencing.
The order had been delayed for some weeks due to a lack of beds at the medium secure facility. It has since been extended several times.
At the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Lady Hood once again extended the interim compulsion order to continue the psychiatric assessment and treatment.
The case will next be heard on 17 December.
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Pub conspiracy theory-inspired plot
The trial heard Ready and Mr Harty knew each other from a pub owned by the victim’s family in Coatbridge.
Ready claimed his motivation for plotting the murder on the dark web – which was exposed by a documentary-maker – was to reveal “money washing” which he alleged was happening at the pub.
The court heard the website he used was later found to be a front for a scam.
Ready said he chose Mr Harty as a victim because of his connection with the pub, rather than due to personal issues, and believed his death “would turn on his links to organised crime”.
Mr Harty gave evidence at the trial and said money laundering was “absolutely not” happening at the pub, where he worked around a decade ago while at university.
He said he remembered Ready as he was teetotal and would order coffee, which was “irritating” due to how busy the pub was.
During court proceedings, Ready claimed being remanded at HMP Barlinnie after the murder plot was exposed in September 2022 improved his mental health as it got him out of Coatbridge.
