Glasgow ice cream wars facts for kids
The ice cream wars were a series of fights between different groups in Glasgow, Scotland, during the 1980s. These groups used ice cream vans as a way to secretly sell things they had stolen. The people driving the vans often used threats and violence against each other.
The most shocking event was when a driver and his family were killed in a fire. This led to a very long court case that lasted twenty years. Many people were upset by these conflicts. The police in Glasgow even got a funny nickname, "Serious Chimes Squad," because some people felt they weren't doing enough to stop the violence.
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What Happened During the Conflicts?
In the 1980s, some ice cream sellers in Glasgow were also selling stolen items along their routes. They used their ice cream businesses as a cover for this secret activity. A "turf war" started between these sellers. This meant they were fighting over who got to sell in which areas because the illegal sales were very profitable.
The groups would threaten rival ice cream van drivers. They even attacked each other's vans. Sometimes, they would shoot into the windscreens of the vans with shotguns.
The worst violence happened on April 16, 1984. Six members of the Doyle family were killed in their home in Ruchazie. Andrew Doyle, who was 18 and worked as a driver, had been shot in his van earlier.
A plan was made to scare Doyle even more. At 2:00 AM, someone poured petrol on the door of the flat where Doyle lived with his family. They then set it on fire. The Doyle family and three guests were asleep inside. The fire killed five people right away. A sixth person died later in the hospital. Those who died were James Doyle (53), his daughter Christina Halleron (25), her 18-month-old son Mark, and three of Mr. Doyle's sons: James (23), Andrew (18), and Tony (14).
The Court Case
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The public was very angry about the deaths. The police arrested several people. Eventually, six people were charged. Four were found guilty of crimes related to the fights. Two others, Thomas "T C" Campbell and Joe Steele, were tried for the murders. They were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge said they should serve at least twenty years. Campbell was also found guilty of the earlier shotgun attack and given another ten-year sentence.
What followed was a twenty-year legal battle by Campbell and Steele. It became one of the most talked-about cases in Scottish legal history. Campbell's lawyer later said it involved "twenty years of hunger strikes, prison breakouts, demonstrations, and legal fights."
The prosecution's case against Campbell and Steele relied on three main things:
- A witness named William Love said he heard Campbell, Steele, and others talking in a bar. They were planning to scare "Fat Boy" Doyle by setting his house on fire.
- Police officers said Campbell made a statement. They wrote down that he said, "I only wanted the van windaes shot up. The fire at Fat Boy's was only meant to be a frightener which went too far."
- Police said they found a map of Glasgow in Campbell's flat. The Doyle house was marked with an X on it.
The prosecution said Campbell had a history of violence. They claimed he joined the ice cream business in 1983 and wanted to protect his area from a rival group. They also said Steele was Campbell's helper, doing the violent work for him.
The defense lawyers disagreed with the prosecution's evidence during the trial. Campbell kept saying that Love and the police had "framed" him. Campbell said Love was desperate and would point the finger at anyone to avoid prison himself. Love had been given bail in exchange for his testimony. Campbell denied making any statement to the police. He also claimed the police planted the map in his house. He said a senior police officer told him, "This is where we do the fitting up. I am going to nail you to the wall." Both Campbell and Steele said they were at home with their wives when the fire happened.
After they were found guilty, Campbell and Steele tried to overturn their conviction in 1989, but they failed. Years later, in 1992, journalists wrote a book about the case. They interviewed William Love, who said he had lied under oath. He later signed papers saying this was true. Love explained, "I did so because it suited my own selfish purposes. The police pressured me to give evidence against Campbell."
Because of this, Campbell and Steele started protests to make their cases known. Steele escaped from prison several times to make big public demonstrations. He even glued himself to the railings outside Buckingham Palace. Campbell protested while in prison by going on hunger strike and making a documentary. After a long legal argument, the government sent their case back to the appeal court. Campbell and Steele were set free while waiting for the decision.
The appeal failed because the three judges disagreed. They couldn't decide if Love's new statement would have changed the outcome of the first trial. Two judges said it would not have, but one judge disagreed. Campbell and Steele were sent back to prison.
The legal fight continued. Their lawyers asked the government again to send the case back to the appeal court. The government refused. So, Campbell and Steele took their case to a new group called the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. This group agreed to look into the case.
The Commission asked for all the police and government documents related to the case. The police tried to stop them from getting these papers. But a judge ruled that the Commission had the right to see them. The judge said the Commission had a duty to investigate if justice had been done.
Final Appeal and Freedom
The Commission decided that the case should go back to the appeal court. While waiting for the appeal, Campbell and Steele were set free for a second time.
Three years later, the appeal court heard their case, and this time they won! The judges cancelled their convictions. This was because of new evidence and because the judge in the first trial had given the jury wrong instructions. A professor of psychology, Brian Clifford, gave new evidence. He said that the police officers' memory of Campbell's statement was "too exact." All four officers remembered the same 24-word phrase perfectly.
Professor Clifford had done studies showing that people usually only remember 30% to 40% of words they hear. He said it was "not at all likely" that the officers could remember Campbell's statement so perfectly without comparing their notes. The appeal judges agreed. They said that if the first jury had heard this new evidence, they would have seen the police officers' evidence differently. They concluded that the original verdicts were a miscarriage of justice, meaning they were unfair. Campbell and Steele were finally freed.
The judge from the original trial, Lord Kincraig, was in his 80s and retired. He spoke out against the appeal court's decision. He said he could not believe there was a police conspiracy. In the first trial, he had told the jury that believing Campbell and Steele meant believing many detectives had lied to frame them. After the convictions were cancelled, he said the appeal court had taken over the jury's job of deciding facts.
Campbell asked for a new investigation into the Doyle family murders. He accused another man, Tam McGraw, of the original murders. Campbell claimed McGraw had tried to keep him in jail for 20 years. However, it was thought unlikely that a new investigation would start. This was partly because Campbell's claims against McGraw were viewed with doubt. Also, two police officers heavily involved in the case had since died.
Later Information
Thomas "T C" Campbell passed away in June 2019.
See also
In Spanish: Guerras del helado de Glasgow para niños
