Petrol attack claimed lives of six members from single family

Six members of the same family lost their lives when their home was set ablaze in a crime linked to Scotland’s Ice Cream Wars.

The Doyle family was targeted as they tried to move into lucrative ice cream routes in Glasgow’s housing schemes.

Andrew Doyle had refused to bow to pressure to sell drugs or give up his route.

The 18-year-old’s stance led to shots being fired through the windscreen of his van in February, 1984.

Weeks later, six members of his family, including a baby, were killed when their top-floor flat in Ruchazie was torched with petrol.

Andrew died along with his dad James, 53, brothers James jnr, 23, and Anthony, 14, his sister Christina Halleran, 25, and her 18-month-old son, Mark.

Six months later, Thomas “TC” Campbell and Joe Steele were unanimously convicted of murder and jailed for life.

Campbell was said to have told police: “The fire at the Fat Boy’s was only meant to be a frightener which went too far.”

Police informant William Love also gave a key testimony about overhearing the two men talking about the attack.

Campbell and Steele maintained their innocence and fought tirelessly to have their convictions overturned.

In 1992, Love admitted to journalists that he had lied under oath when he gave his crucial evidence.

The case against Joe Steele, who speaks of Campbell’s death for the first time today, centred on statements alleged to have been given to four detectives in a police car in which he was reported as saying: “I’m not the one that lit the match”.

Joe, who was released in 2004, consistently denied making the statements and the Appeal Court proved he had been framed by police.

He believes there is now no doubt Glasgow gangster, Tam McGraw, who died in 2007, ordered the fire to scare off rival van operators.

He said: “McGraw was a ruthless man who had no conscience.

“I doubt he lit the fire himself but he ordered it and his henchmen followed his orders.

“He was responsible for a lot of awful things, but being a grass kept him out of jail. I hope he rots in hell.”