The jingle of the ice-cream van would get children excited as it rolled into the scheme but for adults in 1980s Glasgow those familiar chimes represented something more sinister.
Because those vans were selling things far worse than just sweets to their kids and trouble was brewing. You could smell it in the air.
A turf war was being waged and it would ultimately lead to what would be Scotland’s worst mass murder at the time.
In the 1980s mass unemployment was being caused by industries collapsing which in turn created unrest and massive poverty.
Housing was a major problem and huge housing estates were built on the edges of cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh.
But for low-income families and no supermarkets around the estates created a niche – enter the ice cream sellers.
They would flog household staples such as toilet paper, bread, milk and well as treats for children.
And it wasn’t long before they started peddling in illegal items – bootleg ciggies, drugs and weapons. Heroin was particularly profitable.
The vans became lucrative to ply drugs from and when the gangsters started muscling in on other patches war began to break out.
Baseball bats, knives, guns and axes were used by gangs to defend their territory as petty vandalism turned into all-out violent conflict.
Andrew Doyle, nicknamed Fat Boy, was an 18-year-old driver for the Marchetti brothers and had resisted attempts to sell drugs from his van – even after he was shot at through his windscreen.
Andrew had also re-buffed efforts to take over his run.
In April 1984 it was decided Andrew needed another “frightener” to get him to play ball. So in the early hours of 16 April someone drenched the front door of the Doyle family home in Ruchazie with petrol and set it alight.
There were nine people staying in the flat that night – the six members of the Doyle family and three guests.
Six people were wiped out that night – James Doyle, 53, his daughter Christina Halleron, 25, her 18-month-old son Mark, three of James’ sons, James, 23, Andrew and 14-year-old Tony.
The mass murder shocked Scotland and threw into focus the violent gang wars plaguing the city and earned Strathclyde Police the nickname “Serious Chimes Squad” for its failure to address them.
Under pressure to bring justice for the Doyle family the force arrested several people over the following months.
Six people were eventually charged and four of them ultimately were tried and convicted of offences relating to the vendettas.
But two innocent men were later tried and convicted of the murders of the Doyle family and would spend twenty years protesting their innocence.
Joe Steele and Thomas ‘TC’ Campbell were said by the police to be known violent offenders. TC, they claimed, had a history of being an enforcer and Steele was his sidekick.
The prosecution evidence against them rested on three main pieces of evidence: A witness, William Love, stated that he had overheard Campbell, Steele, and others in a bar discussing how they would teach “Fat Boy” Doyle a lesson by setting fire to his house.
The police stated that Campbell had made a statement, recorded by four officers, that, “I only wanted the van shot up. The fire at Fat Boy’s was only meant to be a frightener which went too far.”
The police stated a photocopied A–Z street map of Glasgow, on which the Doyle house in Bankend St was marked with an X, was found in Campbell’s flat.
TC claimed he was “fitted up” by cops and Love who, he said, had agreed to testify in exchange for staying out of jail.
TC and Steele’s convictions were eventually overturned in 2004 at the Court of Appeal after years of campaigns.
Thomas Campbell died of natural causes at his home in June 2019.
After his death Joe Steele said crime boss Tam McGraw had ordered the hit on the Doyle family and knew who started the blaze – but he would never tell.
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