Over 300 witnesses were called to give evidence at a trial which lasted fifty four days and cost £4 million, at the time the longest and most expensive trial in Scottish legal history, and ended in Ferris being acquitted of all charges. After the trial Ferris returned to Glasgow and set up a car dealership named Jagger Autos, and also became a consultant for security firm Premier Security, which had a reported annual turnover of £6.2 million. He also maintained contacts in the underworld, including Paul Massey and Rab Carruthers in the north of England. In 1993 his brother Billy escaped from a prison escort after being allowed temporary release to visit his sick father, and was one of the six most wanted men in Britain until being captured in Blackpool. Later that year, Ferris accused the police of having a vendetta against his family after Billy was refused permission to attend the funeral of their father. In August 1994 Ferris received a £250 fine from a court in Manchester after being charged with possession of crack cocaine. He told the court "I'm no gangster", and claimed he used the drug to alleviate his psoriasis. In 1995 Ferris appeared in a television interview with John McVicar in which he remarked "If anyone was born into crime, it was me. Crime is in my blood", and also claimed he had "always used a weapon of sorts".