THE man behind the murder of three members of a Helensburgh family has paid back assets of just £2,600 - despite making a six-figure sum from his criminal activities.

Scott Snowden, from Balloch, was handed a 33-year jail term for the murders of Thomas Sharkey senior, his son Thomas junior and his eight-year-old daughter Bridget at their home in the town in 2011.

Investigators found Snowden, 41, had made £119,000 from his criminal activities in the six years before he was arrested.

In 2015 a court granted a confiscation order of £8,500 was made against the murderer – but prosecutors have now accepted that he had “realisable assets” of just £2,602.55.

That 2015 court hearing heard that it had been agreed the benefit from Snowden’s general criminal conduct was £119,000.

Snowden and his accomplice, Robert Jennings, were both jailed for life for the triple murder.

After the pair were found guilty, the Crown launched proceedings against Snowden seeking to seize profits from his criminal activities.

A Crown Office spokesman said this week: “The confiscation order imposed by the High Court on Scott Snowden has now been paid and the Crown has taken steps to recall the restraint order granted by the Court of Session.

“Should he come into further assets in future, we can ask the court to recalculate the confiscation order up to the amount of the benefit recorded.”

The three members of the Sharkey family died while Snowden was on holiday in Mexico in July 2011.

Jennings, 54, poured petrol through the letter box of the family's flat in Scott Court in Helensburgh.

Jennings was ordered to serve at least 29 years behind bars.

Snowden was also convicted of attempting to murder Mr Sharkey's wife, Angela, who survived the horror.

Helensburgh's MSP, Jackie Baillie, said: “The whole community in Helensburgh was horrified by these murders and it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth that such a tiny fraction of Scott Snowden’s assets have been seized.

“This law was supposed to punish criminals and give something back to the victims of crime and their local communities; they should not get away with paying next to nothing."

Brian McConnachie QC, who served as Scotland's principal advocate depute from 2006 to 2009, said: "There is always inevitably going to be two figures, one being the amount made from criminal enterprises and the other being the recoverable amount.

"It is not uncommon for these figures to be vastly different."