By SHAUN MILNE
FORMER Bay City Rollers manager Tam Paton could leave his millions to a DOG CHARITY his friends claimed last night.
The 70-year-old pop svengali died from a suspected heart attack at his home on the outskirts of Edinburgh on Wednesday night.
But less than 48-hrs after his death questions are being asked about what happens to his massive property and business portfolio at TDP Investments.
One source said: “He’s got millions of pounds worth of property stretching from Palmerston Place to Torphicen Street – and that’s just for starters.
“He’s also got others dotted around Leith and places like that, not to mention Little Kellerstain which itself is worth over £1 million.
“I know his relatives are already on their up from England for his funeral and to deal with his affairs.
“But the big panic is that he plans to leave most of his money to animal charities because he loved his bloody dogs so much.”
Paton was a well known dog lover and had a number over the years including his two beloved Rottweilers and another two Staffordshire bull terriers which he referred to as “my children”.
Paton was once quoted as saying he would leave none of his estimated £5 million to his former Bay City Roller friends and only some to friends and family along with the Children’s Hospice in Kinross, Perthshire.
He said: “I love animals and they’ll benefit from my will as well as the children’s charity and cancer research.
“I have two bull terriers and two Rottweilers – they are my children.”
The source said: “Sometimes he would go to the Dog’s Trust out in West Lothian just to see what was going on, and I’ve seen him at the Edinburgh Cat and Dog home before.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he helped them or something like the Scottish SPCA. He was always spoiling his dogs rotten with steaks.
“But there are already a lot of people circling hoping that they’ll be able to get a chunk of change now that he’s gone.
“I’d be surprised if no-one has cleared stuff out from his house already.”
It was revealed two friends were in the house with Paton at the time of his heart attack and they tried to help pull him from the plunge bath at luxury mansion but couldn’t lift the tubby music mogul.
Even after a third man arrived – a paramedic despatched on a motorcycle – they struggled to pull him out to be revived.
But it was too late to save the greying ex manager who had suffered a stroke and two previous heart attacks in recent years.
The source said: “The guys are really pretty shaken up.
They just heard him making a noise and tried to pull him out
Relatives – thought to be Tam’s sisters – were understood to have been travelling north to take care of his funeral arrangements yesterday.
Paton told friends in the past that he wanted to be cremated to the Bing Crosby version of song ‘That’s The Way Life Is’.
Police confirmed yesterday that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
A spokesman said: “We can confirm we attended a call to Gogar Street, Edinburgh, regarding the death of a 70-year-old male following a reported cardiac arrest.
“There are no suspicious circumstances and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.”
Paton made millions of pounds in the 1970s managing the Bay City Rollers.
But he became a controversial figure after a conviction on 1982 over sex offences against two teenage boys, followed by child sex abuse allegations in 2003 which he was cleared off.
In 2004 he was convicted of drug offences after £26,000 worth of cannabis was found at his home, but he was again cleared on appeal.
And in 2007 he was cleared of raping Bay City Roller guitarist Pat McGlynn in a hotel room in 1977.
It was understood friends and family who travelled north from London were gathering at Paton’s home last night to discuss arrangements for his funeral.
