Fight over turf that led to six arson deaths
WHAT WERE THE ICE CREAM WARS?
In the 80s, rival criminal gangs in the east end of Glasgow selling drugs and stolen goods from ice cream vans on their routes became involved in a turf war.
WHAT WAS THE MOST NOTORIOUS INCIDENT?
The peak of the violence came on April 16, 1984, with the murder by arson of six members of the Doyle family, in the Ruchazie housing estate, Glasgow.
WHO DIED IN THE ARSON ATTACK?
The inferno killed the members of the Doyle family and three guests who were staying in the flat that night, all of whom were asleep at the time.
The victims were James Doyle, 53, sons James jnr, 23, Andrew, 18, and Anthony, 14, and daughter Christina Halleron, 25, plus her 18-month-old son Mark.
WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE MURDERS?
Andrew, nicknamed “Fat Boy”, a driver for the Marchetti firm, had resisted being intimidated into distributing drugs and the takeover of his run.
He was shot through the windscreen of his van. At 2am, the door on the landing outside the top-floor flat in Ruchazie where Doyle lived with his family was doused with petrol and set alight, supposedly as a “frightener”.
WHO WAS BEHIND THE KILLINGS?
Thomas “TC” Campbell, who died aged 66 in 2019, and Joe Steele were tried for the murders and convicted unanimously.
They were sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years.
WERE THEY GUILTY?
Campbell and Steele began a 20-year battle to prove their innocence, including hunger strikes, appeals and a rooftop protest.
Steele broke out of prison in 1993 and chained himself to the railings of Buckingham Palace.
In 1992, a key witness at the trial, William Love, told
journalists Douglas Skelton and Lisa Brownlie that he had lied under oath. He later signed affidavits to that effect.
In March 2004, Campbell’s and Steele’s convictions were quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh and deemed a miscarriage of justice.
WHAT WAS MOORE’S INVOLVEMENT?
Murderer and gangland enforcer Gary Moore was one of four men charged with plotting and carrying out the murders.
Along with Campbell as the ringleader, and Steele, the others were Moore and Thomas Gray, who were charged with incidents of violence and intimidation relating to the Ice Cream Wars. Moore was cleared at the High Court in Glasgow due to insufficient evidence.
WAS HE INVOLVED?
He is said to have made a deathbed confession that “I torched them. Do I regret it? Not one bit” in 2010, but others have cast doubt on the claim.