The story of remarkable detective Robert Colquhoun

 The career of Glasgow police chief Robert Colquhoun was remarkable even by the city's high standards.

In a career spanning four decades, the teetotaller 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 those days.

For the first 18 months, he pounded the beat in the Garngad in the east end of Glasgow, now known as Royston, where vicious street gangs were beginning to take hold.

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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 also made a member of the Chief Constable's personal staff for a period, usually a sign that an officer is destined for greater things.

During this period, he also saw action keeping the peace during the 1926 General Strike which brought Glasgow and the country to a standstill and resulted in large-scale disorder and disturbances.

He quickly rose through the ranks and by 1931 had become a Detective Sergeant while still in his early 30s.

He was also the youngest officer in the City of Glasgow Police to be presented with an award for arresting and securing the convictions of the greatest number of criminals.

Colquhoun was also a quick learner and always willing to listen to advice from his older colleagues.

One that stuck with him through his career came from a veteran detective John Forbes.

He told the young detective: “The Sherlock Holmes stuff is fine to read, Robert.

"But you can't bring a man to the dock using his methods.

"It is one thing to solve a crime and know who is to be arrested.

"But it is twice as hard to deter the evidence to satisfy the juice that they have the right man before them."

It was during this period that Colquhoun, 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.

On May 1939 the Trongate office of the Celtic Literary Society was 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 were found in their homes.

Thanks to the efforts of Colquhoun and this team three members of the gang were given jail terms of up to ten years.

The advent of the Second World War brought a challenge for Colquhoun and his men as ruthless criminals exploited 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.

However, the biggest case was the murder in July 1942 of 20-year-old Gertrude Canning who was a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service or WREN in Inveraray, Argyllshire, 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 was a happy, likeable young woman with an appetite for life. She went out one day to Inveraray to post a letter to her father in Lifford, Donegal.

Five days later her body was found in a woodland ditch near a landmark known as the Marriage Tree by two boys collecting wildflowers. She had been shot four times and some of her own clothes seemed to have been used to gag her.

The revolver used in the murder was standard army issue. It was a classic whodunit.

Gertrude came from County Donegal. She worked at a couple of hotels in England before arriving in Scotland and becoming a WREN. She was based at HSM Quebec, a Royal Navy base that was part of a Training Centre at Inveraray with some 250,000 people passing through between 1940 and 1944.

At any one time up to 15,000 service personnel were billeted in the area - even though the town's population was only 500.

Gertrude worked in the officers' mess and died on June 30.

She had been reported missing and there had been a big manhunt at the time.

Following her death, a car-load of experienced Glasgow detectives, including Colquhoun, arrived in Inveraray to investigate.

The killing shocked the Highland community and baffled Detective Superintendent Colquhoun who had been sent north to take charge.

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

The sensitive nature of the training being done meant the newspapers had to be circumspect because of wartime censorship rules.

Reports only said that Gertrude's body had been found in a ditch in a "West of Scotland town".

It meant that the police were unable to put out their usual appeals for information.

The circumstances of the murder were simple.

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

By the time the letter arrived two days later, her bosses had reported her missing.

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

On the day she posted the letter Gertrude had been spotted by two roadmen as she made her way along a quiet wooded track, a hundred yards from Loch Fyne.

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A few minutes later, they saw a soldier walking down the track in the same direction. Her body was discovered by two boys and their mother.

Test bullets from revolvers belonging to several thousand Commando troops were fired into cotton-wool wadding and analysed.

Troops who had left the base were tracked down to mainland England and the Isle of Wight.

No match was found for the bullets that had brutally taken Gertrude's life.

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

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 3,000 Allied lives in August 1942.

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

Colquhoun would later wonder 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 was found with 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 a senior rank.

Writing later about the case Colquhoun said: "My theory is that the WREN was killed by a soldier that she knew; that the same soldier was later one of the men who poured ashore from the landing craft into Dieppe.

"In all probability, he died at Dieppe and his secret with him."

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 case was also the subject of a cold case review by Strathclyde Police the previous year -codenamed Operation Phoenix using the latest in expertise that was now available.

However, for Colquhoun, it was the case that got away.

In 1957 Colquhoun took over the position as head of the City of Glasgow CID at the rank of Detective Chief Supt.

One case which quickly tested his detective skills was the murder in July, 1957 of 72-year-old retired dressmaker Nana Wilson at her home in Hill Street, Garnethill.

In a crime which shocked the city her home was 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 they were both convicted instead of culpable homicide. Reid was given 12 years and his co-accused five.

Colquhoun had made a good start as head of CID with his crime-solving skills meeting with approval from the Glasgow Times.

One opinion column said: "This is the second murder investigation led by Chief Supt Colquhoun since he took charge of CID in January this year. The previous case also resulted in an arrest."

In 1958, Colquhoun led the investigation into the tragic murder of five-year-old Anne McKinlay.

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The violent death of a child always brings shock and outrage and this was no different.

The girl's body had been found in front of a coal bunker inside a tenement in South Woodside Road in the West End of the city.

People gathered in the street for news as police launched their investigation.

A 17-year-old neighbour was quickly identified as the culprit and taken into custody.

It emerged that he had mental health issues and was barely able to eat and write.

He had been treated in hospital but had recently been released.

There was outrage that someone had been freed into the community when he was clearly still a danger.

The teenager pled guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was taken to the State Hospital in Carstairs.

Echoing modern concerns about the treatment of people with mental health issues, the victim’s mother blamed the system rather than the teenager for her daughter's death.

She said: "I feel only pity for him.

"But I have deep bitterness for the authorities."

One of Colquhoun's most significant cases involved the arrest of 21-year-old Robert Scott in 1958 for the murder of 51-year-old police informant and car sprayer William Vincent.

Vincent had once received a commendation from the City of Glasgow Police for his help in solving crimes.

He however also had a reputation as a sexual predator, often luring vulnerable young men with promises of money, accommodation and a job.

Vincent had himself contacted the police on several occasions to report being attacked and robbed by men he had invited home.

On one occasion in 1957, he had been attacked by a 19-year-old man, who stole £260 of cash and valuables.

Robert Scott had met Vincent at a motor auction when he was 17, and the two had struck up a friendship sparked by a mutual love of cars.

However, Vincent wanted more from the relationship and became besotted with the young man.

When Scott was called to do his national service, Vincent had unsuccessfully tried to ‘buy him out of the army’.

After being demobbed, Vincent was keen for their friendship to continue.

Scott had however become uncomfortable about the older man’s apparent obsession with him, which included pestering him with love letters.

He then telephoned Vincent and arranged a meeting at his West End flat.

According to Scott’s testimony, the older man attempted to kiss him.

The two men struggled before Scott strangled the slightly built Vincent.

After stealing some valuables from Vincent’s flat, Scott bundled his body into the boot of his Sunbeam Alpine car and drove it to Longtown in Cumbria, where he abandoned it in a ditch.

Phoning the local police, Scott stated: “I murdered a man in Glasgow. The body’s in the boot of his car, and I’ll wait till you come.”

At Scott’s trial at the High Court in Glasgow, he was found guilty.

He however avoided the death penalty and was instead sentenced to life in prison.

Reflecting the attitudes of the time Vincent - because of his sexuality - was blamed for his own death by the court of public opinion.

He was seen as a sexual predator who used his money to exploit a vulnerable working-class young man.

Eighteen months later Scott was found dead in Perth Prison, having committed suicide. He was described by prison authorities as having been ‘an ideal prisoner’.

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 in which he gave his thoughts on the Vincent and Canning murders.

Ghostwritten by the famous TV crime reporter Bill Knox, he also described his battles with some of Glasgow's most notorious criminals including the legendary safecracker Johnny Ramensky.

By the end of his career, Colquhoun had also been awarded the MBE for services to policing.

Many officers of his era found work in the security industry to top up their pensions and Colquhoun was no different.

He got a job with the security 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.

The role was a big one as his employers were responsible for transporting large amounts of payroll money daily in an era when most workers in the city were paid in cash at the end of each week.

Colquhoun, who was a keen swimmer and martial arts expert, collapsed while visiting a friend in Portobello in Edinburgh in 1969 at the age of 68.

Though an affable man Colquhoun also 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 described the crimefighter thus: "Don't be taken in by his smiling face.

"Colquhoun would jail his own granny."