Ex-Rangers administrator ‘treated worse than terrorist’ by cops and ‘kept in cell with no bed for six days’

Ex-Rangers administrator David Whitehouse has claimed he was “treated worse than a terrorist” by police after being wrongly accused of fraud.

The insolvency expert was one of those called in to deal with the Ibrox club’s money troubles in February 2012.

He and his Duff & Phelps colleague Paul Clark were charged but no one was convicted and last month the pair shared £21million in compensation.

© Danny Lawson/PA Whitehouse and colleague Paul Clark (pictured) were charged but no one was convicted.

Whitehouse, 54, said: “I was taken from my house in Cheshire at 8.30am driven to Glasgow and spent six days in a police cell, with no bed and a concrete floor, at Helen Street station. I was treated worse than a terrorist.”

He told how a police officer visited his cell to tell him they had intelligence that Whitehouse’s family was at risk. But he was refused permission to call them.

Whitehouse said: “Why would you tell someone, ‘Your family’s at risk but there’s nothing you can do about it’?”

Whitehouse and Clark became administrators of Rangers in February 2012, less than a year after the club was bought by Craig Whyte. The club was purchased by a consortium led by Charles Green but went bust that October.

Whitehouse was first arrested in November 2014 then again in September 2015.

The case was ­initiated by Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland but was dropped months before James Wolffe succeeded him in 2016.

However, the Crown fought the civil action for another four years.

Now, Whitehouse is calling for a criminal investigation into the Crown Office and Police Scotland.

The Crown paid out after accepting the prosecution of Whitehouse and Clark was ­malicious. Green and colleague Imran Ahmad are also seeking damages of about £20million each.

David Grier, another Duff & Phelps man who was cleared, is suing for about £14million.

The Crown Office said: “The Lord Advocate intends to make a statement to the Scottish ­Parliament when the actions raised by Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse are concluded.

Police Scotland said: “We have reached an agreement to resolve this dispute.”

Aftershocks of Whyte’s takeover rumbe on

The consequences of Craig Whyte’s takeover of Rangers in May 2011 are still being felt.

Whyte bought the club from Sir David Murray for a token £1 and the promise of wiping out debt. It later emerged that, before the sale had been completed, he borrowed £26million against future season ticket sales.

Rangers were placed in administration under Duff

& Phelps the following February.

In June, 2012, their proposal to restructure debts was rejected by HMRC.

Around the same time, the Crown Office, under Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, asked police to investigate the purchase of Rangers and subsequent financial management. The assets were sold to Charles Green’s consortium and the club went into liquidation that October.

Whitehouse and Clark were arrested in November, 2014, over Whyte’s takeover.

The charges were dropped and in 2016 they sued the Lord Advocate and the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

Four years later, the Crown Office accepted prosecutions had been malicious.

Whyte was cleared in 2017 of acquiring Rangers by fraud.