Alexander Blue murder: Brother calls for case to be reviewed as 20th anniversary approaches

Alexander Blue, 41, was found in the driveway of his luxury home in the West End of Glasgow with horrific head injuries on June 25, 2002. He died two days later having never regained consciousness.

Since then, no one has been arrested or stood trial for the taxi firm owner’s murder.

Older brother Billy, 64, wants justice for their seriously ill mother, Kathy Blue, who is now 89.

He claims that senior prosecutors pulled the plug on the investigation in 2015 despite the police reportedly coming up with new evidence, following a review of DNA found at the murder scene.

Billy says detectives told him they had found seven “partial" matches using new technology.

He added: "The investigation was kicked into the long grass despite progress being made with DNA evidence.

"Why I do not know.

"The Crown Office effectively made a live case a cold case.

"The police told me that was not what they had planned and were astonished when it was pulled.

"I would also like to see an independent investigation of the Crown Office’s handling of my brother's murder."

In response, the Crown Office said the family were advised that “there was insufficient evidence in law to take any criminal proceedings”.

Billy believes three men were involved in the early-morning attack on his brother in Dundonald Road in the upmarket Dowanhill area. 

He has given detectives the name of a fourth man he also believes sanctioned the suspected hit.

Billy is also disappointed there has been no contact from the police on the 20th anniversary of his brother’s murder.

He added: "You would think that the police would be doing something given that it is the 20th anniversary.

"They should be publicising it, but there has been nothing."

Alex part-owned The Taxi Centre in Glasgow, which sold cars to the private hire taxi trade and had a turnover of about £7m a year.

He was due a majority shareholding in the business after the expiry of a personal bankruptcy. 

Billy and Kathy later donated a £90,000 inheritance from Alexander’s estate to CHAS, the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland.

Billy added: "Our mother is not in the best of health and is being denied justice.

"She does not understand why there has been no progress in the last 20 years."

Over the past two decades the Blues, who live in Robroyston, Glasgow, have made numerous public appeals for information.

The murder also featured on Crimewatch and a documentary presented by Taggart star Alex Norton called Unsolved.

Billy is convinced that Alexander knew his killers.

He added: "My brother was a trained kickboxer who could look after himself and would not have been easily overpowered.

"Only someone he trusted would have taken him off-guard."

Police believed the murder was related to Alexander’s complicated financial and business affairs.

They questioned 5000 people and took more than 2000 statements after his death. 

They even used a forensic accountant for the first time to examine his finances. 

In the hours before his murder, Alexander was also said to be carrying a briefcase containing £30,000 as a "sweetener" towards a house purchase. Neither the money nor briefcase were found.

When Alexander’s battered body was found by neighbours, the door of his luxury Porsche was lying open, as was the door to his home.

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

One neighbour heard at least two 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 Alexander’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.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service said: “We fully recognise the suffering caused to families who have been denied justice for many years.

“The murder of Alexander Blue remains an unresolved homicide. 

"The family were advised that there was insufficient evidence in law to take any criminal proceedings.

“We are committed to reviewing such cases along with Police Scotland to examine if there are any new developments, including advances in forensic techniques, which could bring a perpetrator to justice.

“The family will continue to be kept informed should any significant developments come to light.”

Detective chief inspector Brian Geddes, of Police Scotland’s Homicide Governance Review, said: "We acknowledge the heartache and distress that the Blue family have suffered over the last two decades as they seek answers and justice for Alexander.

"Police Scotland never considers cases closed and the passage of time is no barrier to the investigation of unresolved homicide cases. 

"Where appropriate, we will continue to update the families of the victims.

"Scientific and forensic developments, combined with information from the public and determined investigative work can yield new opportunities in such cases."