A Glasgow gangland enforcer who wrote books about his underworld experiences has died at the age of 62.

Paul Ferris is believed to have died on Tuesday night at the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after a short illness.

He was cleared of the murder of crime boss Arthur Thompson’s son, Arthur Thompson Junior, in 1992, before being jailed for seven years in 1998 for gun-running.

His first book, The Ferris Conspiracy, was published in 2001.

It was later made into a 2013 film, The Wee Man, featuring Line of Duty star Martin Compston as Ferris.

Photographer Brian Anderson, who first met Ferris for a newspaper assignment in 2002, broke the news of his death on his Naked City Facebook page.

Describing Ferris as a best-selling author and a “former notorious criminal”, he wrote: “News of his death will come as a shock to many who knew him throughout the different chapters of his life.”

Anderson later told BBC Scotland News: “We got on really well. I found him polite, funny and kind.

“It was a shock to everyone that I remained friends with Paul for 25 years.”

Thompson, who had links to the Krays in London, was an old-school Glasgow criminal known as The Godfather.

It is said that Thompson spent some time in Dumbarton and that he operated as a demolition contractor when the tenements of the old College Street were being knocked down to make way for what was then to become the new Town Centre.

By the early 80s, Ferris had become part of his gang as an enforcer, someone who threatened and, when necessary, meted out violence. He rapidly built a fearsome reputation that extended beyond the city.