Glasgow Crime Stories: The assassination of George Redmond

After dining at an Italian restaurant in Cambridge Street, only a few yards from Sauchiehall Street, the trio had adjourned to the nearby Waldorf Bar to wash down their dinner with a few pints.

Redmond left the bar shortly before 10:30 pm and stood in the street talking on his mobile phone.

One of his fellow diners and close friend John Maguire had walked out in front of him and was having a cigarette.

The third diner had headed off a few minutes earlier leaving his friends behind in the bar.

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As Redmond took in the night air a black Porsche Cayenne SUV drew up beside him, a window slid down and shot him repeatedly in the back. Maguire who was standing next to him was also peppered with bullets.

The two men, both 42, were rushed to the city's Royal Infirmary about a mile away.

Redmond died shortly after arriving in hospital.

The dinner he had enjoyed earlier had proved to be his Last Supper.

Maguire survived but spent eight days under police guard recovering from bullet wounds to his body and arms.

The police were shocked that such a brutal assassination had taken place in the heart of Glasgow, but not surprised when they learned the identity of the victim.

Redmond, from Possilpark, was a significant figure in the city's organised crime network with links to some of it's biggest players.

Due to their love of extreme violence Redmond and his gang had even earned the nickname the Pulp Fiction Crew after the hitmen in the Quentin Tarantino movie of the same name The chilling soubriquet stemmed from an incident at a gangland funeral in Glasgow in 2004.

Two mourners were said to have ruffled the hair of one of Redmond's friend's in a bar in Possilpark afterwards.

Redmond and several other crew members stabbed both men for what they saw as an act of disrespect.

One member was then ordered by Redmond to get a shotgun from a car and shoot the pair. The wife of one of the two men threw herself on top of her husband and begged for his life.

Only the pleas of three other mourners, including a convicted bank robber and murderer, convinced the crew not to go ahead with the shooting.

Weeks before his murder Redmond reportedly helped run over a drug dealer who had accused one of his pals of stealing a friend's car.

The humiliated dealer, a former policeman, was later forced to pay £6000 to repair the damage caused to the car with he had been hit with.

Within hours of the fatal shooting a major murder investigation was launched from Anderston Police Office. It emerged that the three friends had spent the afternoon drinking in the West End before dining at around 7pm.

Police put out appeals for information on the unnamed third man who came forward three days later and was released after questioning.

Detectives said the Porsche had been stolen in Springburn and had false plates that matched an identical model in the south of England.

It escaped east along the M8 towards Wishaw in Lanarkshire before being found burnt out in a housing estate in nearby Gartcosh.

Police later discovered that a blue Ford Focus might also be involved.

It was seen travelling in convoy with the Porsche in Wishaw, before and after the Monday night shooting.

Nine shots had been fired at a range of about 15ft from an automatic pistol.

Early reports that the gunman or gunmen had escaped on a motor bike were later dismissed.

Guests at the nearby Thistle Hotel, now Doubletree by Hilton, included competitors from the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships which was being held at the Kelvin Hall.

One American tourist, there to watch her granddaughter compete, said at the time:"It doesn't worry us - we get things like this in America all the time."

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George Redmond's murder proved difficult to solve from day one.

With all such crimes members of the public are reluctant to come forward or get involved for fear of reprisals.

The then Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, Stephen House said:"The incident had clear links to serious and organised crime and it won't be an easy one to get to court."

Despite a lack of evidence there was no shortage of theories.

Police thought his murder could be linked to a knife attack Redmond carried out on a drug dealer in a pub in Duke Street, Dennistoun in 2006. The stabbed criminal was quizzed over the murder but wasn't charged. 

One source said the murder had been ordered by a rival gangland figure with an involvement in the security industry.

Some suggested it was arranged by a drug dealer that operated in Glasgow.

Others claimed that Redmond had ripped off some major drug dealers for consignments of cocaine.

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The victim's older brother Pat Redmond, 69, believes he was killed because he owed money to a criminal Mr Big.

The retired driver also insists that his younger sibling was not the major underworld figure he has been made out to be.

He told the Glasgow Times:"George wasn't a gangster, he was my wee brother.

"A lot of people get in with the wrong crowd.

"A lot of what was said about him was exaggerated. He used to put on a big front.

"But he wasn't anything big.

"I can name a lot of people bigger than him,"

Pat, who is from the Calton area of Glasgow, was given the grim task of identifying his brother's body.

He added:"George didn't have a lot of money, he was not well off.

"He wasn't living a life of luxury and was more inclined to ask me for money.

"George liked the Pulp Fiction movie but that doesn't make him a criminal.

"He may have owed someone money and now it was pay back time.

"If a person like that doesn't get his money back, then he is made to look a fool and has to do something about it.

"It doesn't matter how much is involved. He'll have to hurt you so that he doesn't lose face."

Twelve years later George Redmond's murder is still unsolved.

Pat believes that Police Scotland were not fully committed to catching the killers because of his brother's reputation and the murder was quickly forgotten about.

He said:"I'm not being nasty or vindictive.

"We've heard next to nothing from the police in the last 12 years and I don't feel much has been done in that time "Even during the investigation there was very little contact, apart from through the family liaison officer.

"The attitude of the police seemed to be: 'what goes around, comes around.'

"In my opinion they quickly lost interest in his murder and were happy to sweep it under the carpet."

Bizarrely Redmond's murder ended up being discussed three months later on the 2009 edition of Celebrity Big Brother, where Tommy Sheridan was a contestant.

The former Glasgow MSP told his fellow housemates, who included Ulrikka Johnson,Terry Christian, and La Toya Jackson, that he was being fed secret information about the double shooting.

He said:"Just before I came down two guys were shot in the city centre.

"I now know from one of the investigating officers, who is a close friend of mine, that they were big hitters.

"When I hear about these big hitters taking out each other, I don't mind."

Pat doesn't believe that his brother's killer will ever stand trial.

He also thinks it unlikely that anyone will now come forward with the information necessary to put someone in the dock.

Pat added:"It's not going to happen now after 12 years.

"George's case as far as I can see has been put on the back burner by the authorities and forgotten about.

"I have happy memories of my wee brother.

"I try not to think too much about his murder now and just get on with my own life.

"Nothing I can say or do now will bring him back."