TURF WAR FEARS OVER SHOOTING

Published 30 Sep 2009 15:57

FEARS are growing that a gangland turf war will spill onto the streets of Barrhead after the brother of a notorious underworld figure was gunned down at his home.

Eddie Boyd was blasted four times in the chest at close range by gunmen last Tuesday night.

Boyd - the brother of former enforcer Stewart 'Specky' Boyd - is fighting for his life in the Southern General Hospital.

His condition is described as serious but stable and police are treating the latest shooting as attempted murder.

His fiancee Sharon MacPherson was pistol whipped and their pet dog, Taz, was killed in the attack at his home in Pollok.

Police fear the botched hit, which came just weeks before Boyd, 48, and Sharon were due to marry, will spark a gangland turf war.

The Barrhead News has learned the shooting was the most recent incident in a long-running vendetta between rival gangland 'organisations' desperate to take over from Stewart Boyd.

Boyd, 40, who was known as Specky, is buried in Neilston Cemetery where his grave has been desecrated several times.

He died in 2003 in Spain after his sports car blew a tyre, spun out of control and exploded in flames killing him.

Since then, Boyd's rivals have fought a vendetta over the spoils of his life as one of Scotland's biggest drug dealers, trying to get their hands on the millions he made moving heroin and cocaine around the country.

In the past two years there have been a spate of local shootings and other violent, bloody attacks involving ruthless thugs from Barrhead and Neilston determined to cash-in on Boyd's reputation.

They include two drive-by shooting sprees in Southpark Avenue and a drive-by shooting of a house in Barrhead's Auchenback estate and several men being slashed and stabbed outside Barrhead pubs.

Police have issued a description of the two gunmen. A spokesman said: "The first male suspect is described as white, around 6ft in height, in his late 30s with shaven dark hair. He has a tanned complexion, broad shoulders and was wearing a dark-coloured waterproof jacket and dark trousers.

"The second male suspect is described as white, between 6'1 and 6' 2 inches tall, in his late 30s with dark shaven hair. He is described as having broad shoulders and was also wearing a dark-coloured jacket."

Officers are also trying to trace a third person who may have been the driver of the car.

He was described as wearing a baseball cap.

Detective Inspector Paul Livingstone who is heading up the investigation said: "The victims were at home when the two men forced their way into the house and attacked them.

"I am aware that the man was the intended target for the gunmen, no one else.

"However, it was sheer luck that his partner and his seven-year-old daughter were not seriously injured."

Anyone with information can call Pollok Police Office on telephone number 0141 532 5600. Alternatively, information can be passed to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where anonymity can be maintained

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This article appeared in Barrhead News 30 Sep 09

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