Russell Findlay - Caught in the Crossfire. Scotlands Deadliest Drugs War

Caught in the Crossfire

This ebook edition published in 2012 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

Copyright Russell Findlay 2012

The moral right of Russell Findlay to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-85790-225-2
Print ISBN: 978-1-84158-991-6

Version 1.0

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

June 1983 Jamie Daniel is jailed for four years at Chichester Crown Court for heroin smuggling.

2 January 1984 Eddie Lyons Sr is stabbed in Scapa Street, Cadder. His attackers are later jailed after Eddie identified them to the police. He and his family are escorted by police to their new home in Milton.

7 December 1991 Garry Lyons, the eight-year-old son of Eddie Lyons Sr, dies of leukaemia.

1992 Eddie Lyons Sr is given control of a disused former school annexe on Ashgill Road, Milton, with the backing of community police officer John Cameron, which he will later run as the Chirnsyde Community Initiative.

1995 Lyons first receives public funding.

September 1998 Ellen Hurcombe is elected as a Labour councillor in Milton.

18 April 1999 Michael Lyons Sr dies of a crack cocaine overdose following a police drugs raid at a high-rise flat in Castlebay Street, Milton.

30 April 1999 Eddie Lyons Sr is interviewed on STVs evening news bulletin at Chirnsyde, talking about the communitys drug problem.

5 August 1999 Chirnsyde Community Initiative is formed and funding from Glasgow City Council begins. Eddie Lyons Sr is appointed co-ordinator.

24 December 1999 Steven Lyons attacks Marc McDonnell, prompting a violent vendetta by the Club Boys against the McDonnells.

10 May 2000 drug dealer Frank McPhie is shot dead in Maryhill, Glasgow, following a dispute with Jamie Daniel.

13 June 2000 Labour MSP Patricia Ferguson goes on the beat with community police officer John Cameron. They pay a visit to Chirnsyde.

2 September 2000 outside Chirnsyde, a gang attacks Thomas McDonnell Sr with a knife, golf clubs and a scaffolding pole. Six men Eddie Lyons Sr, Johnny Lyons, Eddie Lyons Jr, Steven Lyons, Andrew Gallacher and Paul McGuinness are charged with attempted murder.

10 January 2001 with the cases against Edward Lyons Sr and Johnny Lyons withdrawn, the trial of the remaining four begins at the High Court in Glasgow but it is abandoned due to witness intimidation.

7 February 2001 Thomass wife, Margo McDonnell, writes to the then Lord Advocate Colin Boyd, Strathclyde Polices Chief Constable John Orr and Justice Minister Jim Wallace. She reveals her familys ordeal and the relationship between PC John Cameron and Eddie Lyons Sr.

18 May 2001 a new trial for the attempted murder of Thomas McDonnell Sr begins against Eddie Lyons Jr, Steven Lyons, Andrew Gallacher and Paul McGuinness.

28 May 2001 several charges are dropped which leads to Gallacher being acquitted.

4 June 2001 McGuinness is found guilty of the attempted murder of Thomas McDonnell Sr. The cases against Eddie Lyons Jr and Steven Lyons are not proven.

22 June 2001 McGuinness is sentenced to eight years in prison for the attempted murder of Thomas McDonnell Sr.

August 2001 a quantity of cocaine belonging to the Daniel family is stolen from a house party in Milton. The cocaine is sold to the Lyons, sparking war between the two families.

August 2001 the Daniels torch Chirnsyde, causing 30,000 worth of damage. Two weeks later, Robert Daniel allegedly trashes the Chirnsyde minibus. Vandalism and breach of the peace charges against him are later dropped by prosecutors.

5 September 2001 the director of Glasgow City Councils Culture and Leisure Department, Bridget McConnell, writes a letter to the director of the councils Education Department, Ken Corsar. In it, she admits knowledge of the fire attack and vandalism at Chirnsyde but urges her colleague to review his decision to stop sending children there.

September 2001 an attempt to shoot Steven Lyons outside Mallons pub is made but he is not hit.

22 November 2001 Bridget McConnells husband, the Labour MSP Jack McConnell, becomes Scotlands First Minister.

12 December 2001 PC John Cameron resigns as chairman of Chirnsyde.

12 January 2003 Kevin Gerbil Carroll is shot and injured outside his mothers home in Milton.

19 January 2003 the Daniel family are exposed in the Sunday Mail newspapers Crime Inc investigation.

23 January 2003 Johnny Lyons is shot in Stornoway Street, Milton, but survives.

23 February 2003 the Sunday Mail publishes a story about Eddie Lyons Sr running Chirnsyde under the headline, Would you let this man look after your children?

20 March 2003 another attempt is made to shoot Johnny Lyons near his home but, this time, he is not hit.

24 September 2003 the trial of Jamie Daniel for allegedly attacking taxi driver James Gallagher is abandoned at Glasgow Sheriff Court, amid concerns of witness intimidation.

October 2003 the trial of Stephen Burgess for the shooting of Kevin Carroll is abandoned at the High Court in Glasgow.

10 January 2004 John Madden, a member of the Chirnsyde-based Club Boys gang, is shot by Kevin Carroll, using a Kalashnikov AK-47. He survives.

5 February 2004 Steven Lyons is stopped in a vehicle and has 14,980 in cash seized from him under proceeds of crime laws.

14 February 2004 the Club Boys go on the rampage at Tuscany nightclub, Kirkintilloch. Two men are hit by car and six suffer knife injuries.

20 February 2004 police seize 185,000 of cannabis and heroin at addresses in Kirkintilloch. The haul is linked to the Lyons.

20 February 2004 the East Kilbride home owned by Eddie Lyons Sr is searched by police who find 63,000 in cash.

2 March 2004 campaigner Billy McAllister is arrested for fly-posting leaflets which allege that a corrupt police officer is an associate of the Lyons family.

24 May 2004 Patricia Ferguson MSP writes a letter addressed to Dear Eddie. In it, she asks Eddie Lyons Sr to nominate a member of the community to attend the official opening of the Scottish parliament.

3 September 2004 Club Boy Andrew Gallacher is sentenced to four years at the High Court in Glasgow for heroin and cannabis dealing.

January 2005 two unidentified plain-clothes police officers threaten to plant drugs on Billy McAllister outside Kelvindale Post Office.

25 February 2005 a senior member of the Club Boys admits dealing cannabis and is sentenced to 30 months imprisonment at the High Court in Edinburgh.

22 June 2005 a report by Bridget McConnell is presented to councillors. It recommends that they should vote to continue funding Chirnsyde, which they do. The report is also critical of members of the public who have complained.

17 August 2005 two campaigners who object to Eddie Lyons Sr being funded with public money are given emergency mobile phones over fears for their safety. Two others receive panic alarms.