Paul Ferris has died at the age of 62, with his family announcing his death on Tuesday October 6, 2026. The news closes the life of a man known far beyond Glasgow's underworld, where he built a fearsome reputation as an enforcer.
A family friend said the death had come as a shock to everyone who knew him over the years, adding that no one was aware he was unwell. That detail gives the announcement its sharpest edge: Ferris had long been known as a hard man, but those closest to him were not preparing for this end.
His name carried weight because of the world he had moved through. Ferris became one of the most feared enforcers for Arthur Thompson, who died in 1993, and his family background was shadowed by an older brother, Billy Ferris, who became one of Scotland's most notorious killers.
Billy Ferris was jailed for life at Northampton Crown Court in 1997 after stabbing a man to death during a fight in a pub in Corby. He later killed Jason Hutchison in Irvine, Ayrshire in 2002, when Billy Ferris and Lance McGuinness stabbed the 15-year-old to death while he slept at his home. Billy Ferris was jailed for life again in 2003 and ordered to spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars.
The violence did not end there. Billy Ferris threatened to murder a prison boss in 2012 after failing a drug test and was moved to a segregation unit at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison. He died in custody in September last year at the age of 75.
Paul Ferris had also contested his brother's innocence over the second killing, a reminder that the family's story has always been tied to killing, prison and loyalty as much as it was to fear. For now, the only confirmed next step is silence: no cause of death has been given, and the family has not said more than that the news was unexpected.
