CRIME has, unfortunately, been a part of our city for as long as the River Clyde.
From the murder of 10-year-old Andrea Hedger to a deranged sniper's shooting spree, Glasgow has been brought to a standstill by countless atrocities over the years.
Today we are looking back at some of the darkest days in our city's history as we continue to reflect on its past.
This article was originally published in March 2021.
Here are 10 crime stories which shocked Glasgow
1. The Hyndland Road Murder: Edwin Finlay who killed a police officer
The leafy streets of Hyndland are traditionally one of the most desirable parts of the city to live and work.
However, almost 70 years ago it was the scene of one of the Glasgow's most brutal murders when a local Sunday school teacher inexplicably shot dead a police officer then turned the gun on himself.
Trainee banker Edwin Finlay, 18, came to the attention of cops when it was discovered he had stolen £1200 (£35,000 today) and fled to Ireland.
But, when he returned to the city in September 1952, constables John MacLeod and Thomas MacDonald, were ordered to find him and arrest him.
When the two officers found him, Finlay suddenly pulled two guns from his jacket and opened fire. MacLeod was hit in the stomach and MacDonald in the shoulder and groin.
A shocking chase in the West End ensued and eventually Finlay, knowing there was no escape, shot himself in the head.
PC MacLeod later died from the gunshot wound and left behind a wife and a four year old son.
READ THE FULL STORY: Glasgow Crime Stories: Edwin Finlay who killed a police officer
2. The evil sex predator Angus Sinclair who reigned terror on Glasgow
It was 1982 and an evil sex predator had been stalking the streets of Glasgow for the last four years.
He would lure girls as young as six into tenement closes then rape and sexually assault them.
The mystery attacker would always grab his victims from behind so they would never see his face.
Sometimes the fiend would strike twice on the same day.
Since his reign of terror began in 1978 he'd claimed at least ten victims but more were to follow.
That year every cop in the city was on the lookout for the monster who showed no mercy or pity for his victims.
However, his crime eventually caught up with him when a 10-year-old victim was able to give police a proper description.
The suspect she later picked out from a police mugshot book was Angus Robertson Sinclair who detectives discovered had raped and strangled his seven-year old girl neighbour Catherine Reehill in 1961.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for culpable homicide and a psychiatrist's report warned Sinclair would remain a "very dangerous sexual case".
The officers didn't know at the time but Sinclair had also murdered two young women in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow.
Thanks to the ten year old's evidence he was arrested a few days later at his home in Nitshill on the south-side.
It would prove to be the last ever day of freedom for the 35-year-old.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Glasgow Crime Stories: Angus Sinclair
3. The murder of Andrew Ramsay: Fake cops and human remains found by fishermen
It was a busy February evening in Cardonald in the south west of Glasgow in 2006.
Thousands of fans were heading to nearby Ibrox Stadium to watch Rangers play Spanish side Villarreal in the Champions League.
The local Morrisons supermarket was filled with shoppers and parents were picking up their children from a martial arts class at a local church.
Shortly after 7pm accountant Andrew Ramsay, 51, and his partner Beverley Sinclair, 55, left the Quo Vadis bar in Paisley Road West to walk the short distance to the terraced villa they shared together in Berryknowes Road.
As they reached the front door an unmarked black car pulled up outside the house, which Beverly owned.
Two men claiming to be fraud squad officers informed Andrew he was being take to Stewart Street Police Office for questioning.
They told Beverley, a hospital receptionist, to phone the city centre station four hours later for an update .
The father of two was handcuffed, put on the back seat and driven off never to be seen again.
Fourteen months after Andrew's abduction, police finally got a breakthrough following a lengthy, frustrating search.
In April 5, 2007, a human skull was discovered by fishermen off the Isle of Cumbrae and forensic tests confirmed it was Andrew's.
No other body parts were found and his skull showed no sign that any crime had been committed.
READ THE FULL STORY: Glasgow Crime Stories: The murder of Andrew Ramsay
4. Glasgow Ice Cream Wars: The firebomb attack on the Doyle family
The deaths of six members of one family in 1984 following a firebomb attack on their Glasgow home shocked Scotland.
Thirty seven years later there still remains considerable doubts over who was responsible for the city's biggest ever mass murder.
The Doyles were innocent victims of a violent turf war involving organised crime figures seeking to control the lucrative ice cream van trade operating in the city's sprawling housing schemes.
Because of a shortage of late opening shops the vans could legitimately make £200 profit a week (£700 now) selling food, soft drinks, sweets, and cigarettes on top of the traditional cones and wafers.
However for the more unscrupulous they also provided a means for selling stolen goods and even drugs like heroin.
In what became known as the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars legitimate drivers were subjected to nightly attacks with baseball bats, knives, and eventually shotguns by major criminals who wanted to take over their routes.
On one occasion an undercover police team using a borrowed ice cream van were ambushed in Baldragon Road, Easterhouse by two masked thugs with batons - who they then arrested.
When 18-year-old Andrew Doyle refused to bow to intimidation, he and his family were targeted with horrific consequences.
One evening in late February 1984, shots had been fired through the windscreen of Andrew's ice cream van in Balveny Street, Garthamlock, while he was working with his 15 year old girl assistant.
Unlike those who ordered the attacks Andrew and his family were known to be hard-working and law abiding.
Seven weeks later a mystery man armed with a petrol can mounted the stairs to the family's top floor flat in Bankend Street, Ruchazie and set fire to an outside store cupboard at 2am.
Within minutes the early morning blaze had spread through the family home and of the nine people sleeping inside, only three survived.
The tragic victims were Andrew, his father James Doyle, 53, sister Christina Halleron, 25, her 18-month-old son Mark and two brothers James, 23, and 14 year old Tony.
Mum Lillian Doyle, 51, was rescued by firefighters and another son Stephen, 22, jumped 40 feet to safety but broke his left leg. A fourth brother Daniel, 28, also survived.
There was massive public outrage at the six deaths and demands for swift justice.
Two men - Thomas "TC" Campbell, 31, and associate Joe Steele, 22 - were found guilty of killing the Doyles but, following a lengthy battle to clear their names, had their convictions quashed in 2004.
No-one apart from Campbell and Steele has ever been convicted for the murders of the Doyle family.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Glasgow Ice Cream Wars: The firebomb attack on the Doyle family
5. The mystery of the rapist with a beard who was finally snared
FOR almost a decade a violent sexual predator stalked Ibrox, attacking and raping women at random.
In a half-mile square area in the shadow of its imposing football stadium, eight females were raped between 1979 and 1987.
Women of all ages were reluctant to go out on their own at night during that period for good reason.
If they did venture out in the dark they at least made sure a friend or male relative accompanied them.
The eighth rape in early 1987 would prove to be the most horrifying yet with the victim left for dead in freezing cold temperatures.
In the days ahead, officers in Govan decided to go public in the search for the rapist, who was branded the Beast of Ibrox.
Initially believed to be a man with a beard, a second statement from a victim said he was beardless and a sketch with that description was released. It worked.
With information from a shocked public police arrested 31-year-old local man Dominic Devine.
At the High Court in Glasgow later that year, Devine was found guilty of four rapes, attempting to murder one victim and of another attempted rape.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Glasgow Crime Stories: City's search for 'Beast of Ibrox'
6. The restaurant owner who was found dead in a pile of blood
IN the long annals of violent Glasgow murders it was one of the most brutal and brazen ever seen in the city.
Three men had stood watching and waiting patiently in Rose Street, Garnethill in the heart of Glasgow’s Chinatown.
Shortly before 12.30am they stepped out of the shadows and launched a frenzied attack on their target with machetes.
Seconds later, well-known restaurant owner Philip Wong, 48, lay dead in a pool of his own blood.
The popular businessman and community leader was killed in what was later described as a “myriad of swords” attack.
In reality it was a cold-blooded execution, the likes of which Glasgow had never seen before.
Wong, who ran the nearby Lucky Star restaurant, was heading home having taken part in a late night game of Mahjong at Garnethill’s Tin Tin bookshop.
Present at the game were around 20 Chinese friends and business acquaintances.
As he was about to put the keys in his Mercedes car, his three killers launched their savage attack.
Matchsticks had been placed in the door lock to distract their victim and give them more time to carry out the murder. Minutes later the killers were in a car heading south on the nearby M8, their night’s work carried out with chilling efficiency.
It’s believed they escaped to Birmingham or got a ferry to Northern Ireland.
Almost 35 years after his murder on October 9, 1985, Mr Wong’s three killers still remain at large and have never been arrested or put on trial.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Glasgow crime stories: Philip Wong
7. The deranged sniper who went on a two-hour shooting spree
It was one of the most violent and bloody days in Glasgow's history.
A deranged sniper went on a two-hour shooting spree that left one man dead and 13 injured including a seven-year-old boy.
Minutes before this own death at the hands of a police gunman James Griffiths had taken refuge in a top floor tenement firing randomly at the people below including young children in a packed play park.
The papers were full of stories about the crew of Apollo 11's mission to land on the Moon in five days' time.
However, the horror that engulfed the whole city on July 15, 1969, knocked even that momentous event off the front pages.
Only the bravery of two police officers prevented further loss of life including those of three local children caught up in the crossfire.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Glasgow Crime Stories: Gunman James Griffiths
8. Carol X fought for justice after being brutally raped
FORTY years ago it was the crime that shocked Scotland and rocked the country’s legal establishment to the core.
The brutal rape of a woman on the streets of Glasgow later judged too traumatised to give evidence against her three attackers in court.
The decision not to prosecute became a major political scandal and resulted in a historic private prosecution – only the third in 300 years.
The woman who became known as Carol X was returning home from a night out when three thugs dragged her into a disused metal storage container on wasteground in Davaar Street, Barrowfield, on October 31, 1980.
She was repeatedly raped and then slashed with a razor, leaving her needing more than 150 stitches. There was a wealth of evidence against the attackers for the late night Friday attack in the shadow of Celtic Park in the city’s East End.
A fourth youth who was with them that night agreed to give evidence in return for immunity from prosecution.
Carol, then 31, had identified her attackers, and there was substantial forensic evidence.
The Crown Office however caused public outrage and a media frenzy by dropping the case and the charges. Senior prosecutors had become concerned at Carol’s mental state in the lead up to the trial in May, 1981.
She was then examined by a psychiatrist who feared she could ultimately commit suicide if she faced a court ordeal. There were also said to be misgivings about her reliability as a witness because of her alcoholism and accusations she was a prostitute.
As a result the Crown Office decided not to go ahead with the trial.
But the mother-of-three fought for justice and got it less than a year later through a ground breaking private prosecution.
The application was granted on April, 1982, having been heard by three judges at the High Court in Edinburgh.
It was one of only two to succeed in Scotland in the 20th century. The other involved a fraud case in 1909.
It led to Joseph Sweeney, then 18, and his two 16-year-old accomplices being put on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh the following month.
Sweeney got 12 years for rape and assault, while the two other accused, one his brother, were convicted of indecent assault.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Carol X fought for justice after being brutally raped
9. The former cop who killed two officers in cold blood
DECEMBER 30, 1969, is without doubt one of the darkest days in the history of policing in Glasgow.
Shortly after 4pm two officers were shot dead by a man seen acting suspiciously outside a flat in Govanhill on the south side of the city.
Their suspect had just taken part in an armed robbery and was carrying the proceeds into the Allison Street tenement in suitcases.
When the two cops followed their man into the ground floor apartment, unaware of the earlier hold-up, he pulled out a gun and shot them dead.
The double murder was all the more shocking because it was carried out by a former police officer and colleague.
A few hours later Howard Wilson, married with a young family, was sitting in his police cell in nearby Craigie Street Police Office confessing both murders to his bewildered lawyer Joe Beltrami.
READ THE FULL STORY: Glasgow Crime stories: Police killer Howard Wilson
10. The murder of 10-year-old Andrea Hedger in Woodlands
IT was a murder of such horrifying brutality that parents in Glasgow were left wondering if their child would be next.
A 10-year-old girl making her way to school in broad daylight was lured off the street, raped, and strangled with her own scarf.
Her body was found three days later in a derelict tenement basement on top of a mattress and covered with timber, rubble, and a giant piece of cardboard.
The city was appalled that a child was no longer safe going to school in the morning.
Hedger, lived with her family at Baliol Street in the Woodlands area of the city.
On April 5, 1978, she left her tenement home at around 9:20am for the short walk to Willowbank Primary School where she was a pupil.
The family had unexpectedly slept in and Andrea had a note from her mum Margaret explaining why she was late.
She never arrived at Willowbank and when she also failed to return home her anxious family, fearing the worst, called the police.
A major investigation was launched involving more than 200 uniformed officers and later 60 detectives.
Three days later on the morning of Saturday April 8, Andrea’s body was found by police in the basement of a derelict property at nearby Ashley Street, just around the corner from her home.
Officers had been alerted by the smell of her decomposing body.
It turned out that the basement had been searched previously but her body missed because it was so well hidden.
On April 25, the police announced that they had arrested and charged local homeless teenager Robert Tervet who had been living rough in the area.
On June 16, the baby-faced suspect appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court where he admitted the murder and rape of little Andrea.
Later at the High Court in Edinburgh, Tervet received a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years for the murder of Andrea Hedger, 10 years for raping her and a year for the theft of some lead.
If you want more crime stories from Glasgow's past, check out our weekly pullout in the paper every Wednesday. You can also read more here
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