Glasgow Crime Stories: The remarkable detective Robert Colquhoun

In a career spanning four decades he investigated more than 50 murders and solved nearly every one.

For three years between 1957 and 1960 he was head of CID for the City of Glasgow Police and reached the rank of detective chief superintendent.

Before he joined the police he saw service, like many men of his generation, in the First World War.

When he was demobbed he decided to join the police as it offered the best job security.

Technically speaking he was just half an inch too short as a minimum height restriction operated in these days.

For the first 18 months he pounded the beat in Garngad in the East End of Glasgow where violent street gangs were beginning to take hold.

However, his ambition was to be a detective and he soon became one after passing the necessary certificates with flying colours.

In fact, such were his abilities that he was even appointed to the chief constable’s personal staff for a period.

As a young cop he saw action during the General Strike which had brought Glasgow and the country to a standstill and resulted in large-scale disorder and disturbances.

He quickly rose through the ranks and had become a detective sergeant while in his early 30s.

It was during this period that he made his name breaking up a Glasgow-based IRA terrorist cell in 1939.

There had been a bombing campaign in England at the time in support of a united Ireland. In one attack in Coventry five people had died.

With the terrorist attacks in England police also noticed an increase in the theft of explosives and detonators from mines in Scotland which in turn were being supplied to the bombers.

Colquhoun was given the task of infiltrating meeting places in Glasgow for IRA sympathisers including bars and dance halls.

Particular attention was paid to supporters who had found work in mines and quarries.

The list of suspects was whistled down to several key players who were put under surveillance.

In May 1939, the Trongate offices of the Celtic Literary Society were raided and 540 sticks of gelignite were found.

The poetry readings which had been taking place there were in fact a front for the IRA.

Ten men were arrested and further explosives and detonators found in their homes.

Thanks to the efforts of Colquhoun three members of the gang were give jail terms of up to ten years.

The advent of the Second World War brought a fresh challenge for Colquhoun and his colleagues as ruthless criminals exploited the new and varied opportunities for law breaking.

They included pickpocketing servicemen on a night out or selling rationed goods on the black market.

Many of the crimes, including burglary and theft, were carried out under cover of darkness during the nightly blackouts.

At that time other smaller forces would regularly ask Glasgow to carry out investigations that were too big for them.

The biggest case was the murder of 20-year-old Gertrude Canning who was a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WREN) in Inveraray, Argyll and Bute, in July 1942.

At that time the area was used for training troops and special forces from across the UK and beyond.

There was no shortage of suspects.

Gertrude went out one day to post a letter to her family in Ireland and was never seen alive again.

Five days later her body was found in a woodland ditch. She had been shot four times.

The revolver used in the murder was standard army issue

Press censorship at the time meant the murder could only be reported in the briefest terms.

It also meant the police were restricted in what they could tell the public in terms of appeals for information.

The killing shocked the community and baffled detective superintendent Colquhoun who was sent north to take charge of the inquiry.

On his arrival he could find no discernible motive for the brutal slaying of such a popular and well-liked woman.

Colquhoun quickly established the bullets that killed her had been fired from a .38-calibre revolver - standard issue for military personnel in the area - who were drawn from Britain, Canada and the US.

The plot thickened when Colquhoun learned that a large number of his ‘suspects’ had departed within days of the murder.

They were mainly Canadian soldiers taking part in what would prove to be a failed invasion of France at Dieppe which claimed more than 3000 Allied lives in August 1942.

The circumstances of the murder were simple.

Gertrude was last seen strolling along the shores of Loch Fyne from her base on HMS Quebec.

She was heading for Inveraray to post a letter to her father in Lifford, Donegal.

By the time the letter arrived two days later, Gertrude’s superiors had reported her missing.

Five days after she posted it, her body was found.

The last sighting of Gertrude had been by two roadmen who had watched her walk along a track.

Her body was discovered by two boys and their mother.

Given the nature of her death, her killer had to be a soldier.

Colquhoun later wondered if the killer was a Canadian commando who had taken part in the raid on Dieppe and did not survive.

He tested every ‘thirty-eight’ in the area and beyond. None matched the murder bullets.

When the survivors from Dieppe returned, Colquhoun was waiting to check their guns.

However, he feared that the murder weapon was still on the body of a dead soldier.

Every other clue led to dead ends and the case was eventually wound down.

There was however one unusual element to the murder.

Gertrude had a white bandage on one of her hands, which had been injured in the gunfire.

Colquhoun wondered if the first shot was accidental and after bandaging the wound the gunman realised he was in trouble, panicked and fired three more shots at close range.

At the time a .38 revolver was only used by officers.

There were later claims that the military tried to cover up the crime because of the impact it might have on morale and discipline if it was discovered that the killer was an officer.

In 2012 on the 70th anniversary of her death, Gertrude’s family erected a memorial to her in the woods near where her body was found.

The murder was also the subject of a cold case review by Strathclyde Police the previous year.

But for Colquhoun it was the case that got away.

Four years later in 1946 another murder had a more successful conclusion.

Retired detective James Straiton, 62, had been shot dead while trying to foil a burglar who had broken into a neighbour’s house in Carntyne.

The culprit, John Carmichael, was found guilty of murder at the High Court in Glasgow and sentenced to death.

Another case which tested Colquhoun’s detective skills was the murder of 72-year-old retired dressmaker Nan Wilson at her home in Hill Street, Garnethill, in July 1957.

In a crime which shocked the city, her home had been broken into and £4.50 stolen. Nan died after the robber tied her to a chair.

The people responsible turned out to be two window cleaners who had been working in the area.

The main suspect, 32-year-old John Reid, was dubbed the Slim Jim Killer by the press because of the distinctive tie used to truss-up his victim - known as a Slim Jim tie.

The two accused were facing the death penalty for the murder

However, their lawyers argued that they had not intended to kill the woman during the robbery and instead were both convicted of culpable homicide.

Reid was given 12 years and his co-accused five.

Colquhoun retired in 1960 at the age of 60 and became the first CID chief to write his own memoirs called Life Begins at Midnight.

He also got a job with firm Security Express, where he was reunited with his old boss Sir Percy Sillitoe, a former chief constable of the City of Glasgow Police and head of MI5.

Though an affable man, Colquhoun had strong opinions on law and order and was in favour of corporal punishment and hanging for murder.

One former shoplifter was said to have stated: “Don’t be taken in by his smiling face.

“Colquhoun would jail his own granny.”