Glasgow Crime Stories: The murder of Alex Blue in the West End 18 years on

His firm, called the Taxi Centre, which supplied cars to the private hire taxi trade was doing well with a reported £7 million turnover.

The 41-year-old was also planning to improve his property portfolio with the purchase of a house in the West End of Glasgow.

That evening he enjoyed a relaxing Cappuccino in his favourite coffee bar the Beanscene in Cresswell Lane, just off bustling Byres Road.

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The kickboxer and keep fit fanatic had poured over some business papers on his own before leaving around 8 pm.

Around four and a half hours later he was found dying in the driveway of his upmarket ground floor flat in nearby Dundonald Road by neighbours.

The door of his luxury Porsche was lying open, as was the door to his home.

Alex died two days later in Glasgow's Southern General Hospital from horrific head and facial injuries having never regained consciousness.

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His injuries were so bad that his elderly mother Kathy Blue failed to recognise her son at first when she visited him in hospital.

While a surgeon who later operated on Alex was heard to day:"They didn't leave me a lot to work on."

Detectives investigating his murder realised there was more to the charming Mr Blue than met the eye.

He had been a successful car salesman who enjoyed the company of professional people and other businessmen.

Alex was a smart dresser who wore expensive shoes and thought nothing of paying up to £600 for a designer suit.

He was also a keep fit fanatic who enjoyed working out at home. He rarely drank and never smoked.

However he had also been made bankrupt in 1999 owing just under £79,000.

His three year bankruptcy had been discharged only two weeks before his murder.

As a result he was now legally able to take up a majority shareholding in the Taxi Centre which he had helped establish two years earlier.

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His older brother Billy, 62, who lives with their mother in Glasgow’s Robroyston, believes an attack had been ordered on Alex, which was then executed in the early hours of June 25.

He also believers that Alex knew his killer and may even have welcomed him to his home the night he was attacked.

Billy said: "If someone was calling on him at that time of night and he opened the door it would have been to someone he trusted and was comfortable with.

"Things were also going well for my brother at the time so he would have no reason to suspect that an attack was imminent."

A man thought to be Alex was seen carrying a briefcase in Byres Road between 4pm and 7pm on June 24 before he went to the Beanscene.

It was believed to contain £30,000 towards a house purchase. Neither the money nor briefcase were ever found.

There was also an unconfirmed later sighting of Alex around 10pm that night in nearby Ashton Lane with three men.

Early inquiries showed Alex was from a respectable law abiding family and the second of three brothers.

He had been a promising goalkeeper as a youth and a keen disco dancer who took part in a number of competitions.

His only criminal conviction was for clocking cars in the 1990s.

As a result police struggled to find motive for his murder which took place around 12:20am on Tuesday, June 25.

They could only assume it was related in some ways to his complicated financial and business affairs.

Detective Superintendent David Swindle said at the time: "Alex Blue was a friendly, affable guy.

"Why would somebody want to kill such a pleasant, well-liked individual?"

One theory is that Alex Blue was carrying the £30,000 for buying a property in Westbourne Gardens.

He'd told pals he was in the process of buying a property and planned to view it on June 26 — the day after he was attacked.

It was later discovered the home had never been on the market.

Detectives tried in vain to trace a 'David Hobbs' or 'David Robertson' who Alex was due to meet at 4pm on the day he was attacked.

They also found a mobile phone number scrubbed on a piece of paper which they made public, but again no one came forward.

On the night of the murder a neighbour heard at least two men men arguing in his flat, but the identity of the visitor has never been established.

At the time detectives also released an e-fit of a male seen coming out of Mr Blue's home a few nights earlier but he was never identified.

Despite a £25,000 reward offered by his Taxi Centre colleagues, police were met with a wall of silence.

The murder inquiry team, who had up to 30 officers working on the case at one time, used a forensic accountant for the first time to examine Alexander's finances in the hunt for clues but drew a blank.

They quizzed more than 5000 people and took more than 2000 statements from friends, family members and business associates.

The bankrupt Alex had also avoided creditors by placing his Dundonald Road home in the name of an associate .

After his death the flat was sold for £365,000 (more than £500,000 last todays prices) and it's £108,000 mortgage paid off.

Former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley believes developments in forensic technology could help police catch Alex Blue's killer.

He first investigated Alex's death in 2005 for his best selling book "On the Run" about Britains most baffling unsolved murders.

He is also the former presenter of the popular Channel Four reality TV show Hunted.

Peter said:"DNA testing has moved on since 2002 and I believe this could give police the breakthrough they are looking for..

"Police Scotland should carry out a full review of all the forensic evidence and re examine each and every exhibit including the victim's clothing.

"Scientists are now able to separate mixed DNA samples into individual samples which they were not able to do in 2002.

"I believe this is their best hope of catching the person responsible.

"The only other hope is that someone comes forward after all this time with information but that is less likely."

In 2008 Blue's home bizarrely featured in an episode of the hit TV detective series Taggart.

Producers shot footage unaware that he was the former owner.

Ironically the shows star Alex Norton had previously presented a documentary series called Unsolved about Alex's murder.

STV - who broadcast both shows - were forced to apologise after his mother Kathy Blue complained.

It transpired that the new owners of his flat had hired it out for location filming.

In a further twist it emerged that Norton had also been interviewed by detectives as a possible witness in the weeks after the murder.

He had been in the trendy Ubiquitous Chip in Ashton Lane on June 24 around the same time as the murder victim.

Norton said at the time: "The police asked me if I'd seen three men, whom they gave a description of, but there was nothing I could add.

"They tracked me down through my credit card receipt.

"They must have interviewed everyone who used a card in the pub that day."

Diners at Ashton Lane's Askoka restaurant were also traced to see if they remembered seeing Alex there that evening Peter Bleksley hopes that Alex Blue's family finally get the justice they are seeking after almost 20 years.

He added: "The severity and viciousness of the murder clearly shows this was not a random attack by a stranger passing in the street.

"This wasn't someone being taught a lesson.

"This was a pre planned attempt to kill him which unfortunately succeeded."