The Glasgow crime story of a fatal shooting at Applerow Motors garage

Shortly after 2pm on Wednesday December 6 2006, a blue Mazda car drew up outside Applerow Motors in Balmore Road, Lambhill, on the north side of Glasgow.

The garage was owned by David Lyons, and was operated by both him and his son Mark. Mr Lyons’ nephew Michael Lyons was at the garage, servicing a van and a car. Another nephew, Steven Lyons, was visiting the garage with a pal Robert Pickett. Suddenly and without warning two men dressed in long black overcoats, wearing "old men" face masks and brandishing handguns got out of the Mazda and opened fire.

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The events of the afternoon, in which 11 shots were fired, left Michael Lyons dead, above, and his cousin Steven, 27, and Robert Pickett, 41, seriously injured. Both gunmen both ran back to the Mazda car and drove off at high speed leaving the human carnage in their wake.

Their getaway car was found two days later abandoned in nearby Vaila Street, a short distance from the murder scene.

The multiple shooting which lasted only a few minutes had taken took place yards from a special needs school. Ironically the school was to be the venue for a forthcoming public meeting for local people to discuss, with police and politicians, their growing concerns about rising crime and gangland violence in the area.

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Two men Raymond Anderson, 46, and James McDonald, above top, 34, were charged with the shootings in March 2007 and stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow in March, 2008.

Both men had been arrested following a lengthy police surveillance operation, which included secretly taped conversations between the two men.

The two accused had been business associates and friends for many years. McDonald employed Anderson to buy, valet and repair cars for him.

One of the key witnesses for the prosecution was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was being driven along Balmore Road past the MOT station by her mother at the time of the fatal shooting.

She saw two gunmen running out of the garage, getting into the Mazda and driving off behind her mother’s car. She watched the Mazda turn left into nearby into Skirsa Street and then disappear from view.

At a subsequent identification parade she picked out McDonald.

Telephone records of the case were also crucial to the police investigation.

The prosecution argued that they showed Anderson driving on the M8 to Balmore Road, participating in the shooting, abandoning the Mazda car in Vaila Street, walking south to Maryhill Road, and then returning home. Both men were frequent users of mobile telephones, sometimes calling each other every few minutes. In his evidence David Lyons, 48, told the court how he saw his nephew dying after the shooting. He said: "I went to pick Michael up but I saw the gun still pointing at us. I had to run."

David returned to his nephew after the gunmen fled.

He added: "There was no colour in him. I knew there was no hope. Looking at him I was sure he was dead."

Another victim Steven Lyons told how the gunfire smashed the rear windscreen of his car, a bullet struck his back and he was shot in the leg as he tried to flee a gun attack.

Steven Lyons said he then saw "two guys with masks" approaching as he sat in his car with Pickett in his uncle David's garage.

He added:"Next thing I heard was gunshots. I could not see where the shots were coming from.

"I then sped away in my car. I went towards the side of the building.

"The back window went in, so obviously the car was getting shot at."

Steven, who had gone to the garage to meet Michael, said he nearly collided with another cousin, Mark, while trying to flee the attack before crashing his car into a fence.

He then got out, ran into the garage building and hid behind another car to "get away from the bullets".

Steven Lyons, of Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire was then asked by the prosecution: "When you got to the car, what happened?"

Lyons, who described himself as a building contractor, said: "One of the guys must have had a shot at me. I got hit in the leg.

"I could not see him firing at me because it caught me on the side.

"It snapped my bone and I just fell - that was it. From what I recall that was the last shot."

The jury was told that Steven Lyons was in plaster for up to 12 weeks with a broken leg and also required part of a bullet to be removed from his back.

When questioned about the gunmen, he said: "All I know was that they had masks on."

Defence QC Donald Findlay, representing McDonald, then said "In your view was this people coming into the garage to shoot up cars, to steal them or to carry out a robbery.

"They seemed to be fairly keen to shoot you. It is like a scene out a gangster movie."

Steven Lyons replied: "Yes."

Robert Pickett, 41, who had previously served 12 years for attempted murder, also gave evidence and bizarrely claimed that the "wrong" people were in the dock.

Pickett told how he was left in a coma for a month and lost a kidney after being shot in the stomach.

He said he had also got out of Steven Lyons' car after the vehicle was peppered with shots and was met by one of the gunmen standing "two feet away".

Picket was later sentenced to two years for contempt of court over his evidence.

The court also heard that David Lyons received a "ransom note" delivered to his home 10 days after the shooting.

It read: "The boys owe me £25,000 and I want what's owed to me. It's for drugs.

"They all know what it's about. The money doesn't matter to me as it's got to be paid to the piper.

"I don't want the police, the boys, not even your wife, knowing about it. If you keep them out of this then all your lives can go back to normal as we are all losing money through this.

"If you have any tricks for my pickup man then all the deals are off. Remember to keep your mouth shut. No cameras, no surveillance, as the pickup man doesn't know nothing so he's no use to you.

"Drop off, 4pm Saturday. I'll draw you a map and X will mark the spot."

David Lyons said he didn't pay the money and handed the letter to the police.

Both Anderson and McDonald denied all the charges against them. During the taped conversations Anderson and McDonald had been heard calling themselves The Untouchables and talking about the mysterious 'piper' mentioned in the note to David Lyons.

However Anderson, a father-of-five, insisted he had nothing to do with the shooting and chat about the 'piper' referred to an unrelated court case.

Both men were convicted by unanimous verdict of illegal possession of guns and ammunition, and by majority verdict of the attempted murder of Steven Lyons and Robert Pickett, and the murder of Michael Lyons.

Trial judge Lord Hardie jailed them both for life, and ordered them to serve 35 years each before they cloud be consider or parole, the highest tariff ever set by a Scottish court.

However the term was later reduced on appeal to 30 in 2011 by three judges in Edinburgh.

Increased security measures were put in place during the trial which finished in early May, 2008.

During the last week of proceedings, ten police officers were placed immediately outside the court. Another seven officers were stationed just a few feet behind a massive metal detector at the entrance.

The hearing was heard in court number three, which has been designed for terrorist trials.

After the jury's verdicts, Lord Hardie branded Michael Lyons's murder as a 'a cold-blooded, premeditated assassination.

He told the guilty men:"Such activity cannot — and will not — be tolerated in our civilised society.

"Law-abiding citizens are entitled to expect the court to remove you from society to afford them and their families protection from criminals like you.

'That will not occur unless the public co-operates with the authorities in removing guns and gangsters from our streets.

"Failure to do so may result in death or injury to innocent people and those who stand by silently must bear responsibility for such results."