Glasgow Crime Stories: Edwin Finlay who killed a police officer

The affluent residents include some of the biggest names in academia, sport, and entertainment.

The area boasts a range of gourmet restaurants, trendy bars, and chic boutiques and three private schools Glasgow High, Kelvinside Academy, and Glasgow Academy all within a short radius.

Not surprisingly its elegant townhouses and red sandstone tenements are also among the most expensive in the country to buy.

However, almost 70 years ago it was the scene of one of the city's most brutal murders when a local Sunday school teacher inexplicably shot dead a police officer then turned the gun on himself.

Hyndland was an unlikely area for such a terrible crime and the privately educated perpetrator Edwin Finlay an even unlikelier killer.

The 18-year-old lived in the family home in nearby Marlborough Gardens where he helped his mother look after his sickly father.

After leaving Glasgow High he got a job as a trainee banker with British Linen at their premises in Argyle Street in Finnieston.

He had also joined the local Air Cadet Force, where he became an expert shot, and was due to begin his national service.

On the surface Finlay appeared to be a conscientious, hard working, law-abiding young man.

However there was a dark side to the teenager that would bring that carefully constructed facade crumbling down.

Im his new career Finlay was seeing large sums of money pass through the busy branch each day where he worked.

In August 30 1952 he stole just over £1200 (£35,000 today) from his employers - a massive sum at the time.

The theft was quickly discovered and when he failed to turn up or work the next day suspicion quickly fell on the teenager who had jumped on a flight at Glasgow Airport to Dublin in Ireland.

A few days later police discovered that he was back in Glasgow but what they didn't know was that he now armed.

Finlay had become infatuated with a 17 year old Hyndland girl he had met through the Sunday school at the nearby Balshagray Church.

They had been on one date and he had sent her a Valentines Card but the relationship had gone no further.

On his return to Glasgow he phoned the girl at her parents home in Whittinghame Drive. Her mother said she was out and immediately informed Finlay's worried parents who in turn called the police.

That Thursday evening September 4, 1952, Constables John MacLeod and Thomas MacDonald, who were based at nearby Partick Police office were on duty and ordered to find Finlay and arrest him.

They concentrated their search on meeting places and cafes in the area that were popular with young people of his age.

They also checked the Western Tennis Club in Hyndland Road where the teenage girl was a member.

About 8pm they spotted a young man matching Finlay' description walking in Hyndland Road, close to Great Western Road.

Constables MacLeod and MacDonald, both World War Two veterans, crossed the road to confirm his identity and detain him.

A routine arrest or so they must have thought.

When PC MacLeod identified himself Finlay suddenly pulled two guns from his jacket and opened fire. MacLeod was hit in the stomach and MacDonald in the shoulder and groin.

Constable Charles Hill who was on routine beat duties ran to the scene when he heard the sound of gunfire.

He saw his two colleagues lying on the ground and then an armed Finlay fleeing along Hyndland Road.

The plucky PC chased him into Westbourne Gardens Lane which was a cul-de-sac - the teenage gunman was trapped.

In a move of incredible bravery Constable Hill took of his cap and held it round the corner of a wall at the end of the lane.

Finlay opened fire when he saw the police hat.

Constable Hill continued to expose his cap to Finlay’s view at regular intervals and each time the teenage responded with a barrage of shots.

Hill’s aim was to make sure Finlay used up as much of his ammunition as possible and pinpoint his location to colleagues.

Two other Constables, Thomas Crawford and Arthur Scott crawled through the gardens of the luxury homes to surround the gunman.

By then the teenage bank clerk, realising there was no escape, shot himself in the head.

When his body was searched police found three guns a Webley, a Spanish pistol with a long barrel and a Beretta.

Two ammunition belts were also found on him together with 6 boxes of cartridges.

Finlay had purchased the Beretta and the bullets illegally in Dublin and smuggled them back into Scotland.

The other two guns he had bought from an auctioneers in Glasgow. Around £100 in cash was found in his pockets.

Finlay had arrived in Glasgow that afternoon from Dublin and booked into the St Enoch Hotel.

He then went to a left luggage locker in nearby St Enoch Station where the Webley and Spanish pistol were stored in a briefcase.

He put the two guns inside his coat pocket and transferred what was left of the stolen cash into the same locker.

Finlay then headed out to a cafe in Crow Road where he flaunted his new found wealth to friends by splashing out on ice cream, coffees and drink for them He also showed a friend one of the guns he was carrying.

Ominously he is also reported to have said that he would kill himself farther than be taken by the police.

After the double shooting Constables MacLeod and MacDonald were rushed to the nearby Western Infirmary in a critical condition.

PC MacLeod later died from the gunshot wound and left behind a wife and a four year old son.

At the time of his death he had been a member of the City of Glasgow Police for 6 years. Before that the Constable had served in the Royal Navy during World War II. He was buried on his native Island of Lewis.

Constable Thomas McDonald, who had only been in the police four years, recovered and eventually returned to duty. The PC, who served in the Parachute Regiment, was later promoted Sergeant and retired at that rank in the late 1970's.

Constable MacLeod was posthumously awarded the Queens Commendation for Brave Conduct and the Glasgow Corporation Medal for Bravery.

Constable MacDonald and Constable Charles Hill were both awarded the British Empire Medal for Gallantry and the Glasgow Corporation Medal for Bravery. For their part in the incident, Constables Thomas Crawford and Arthur Scott were awarded the Glasgow Corporation for Bravery.

PC MacLeod's medals were donated to the Glasgow Police Museum in Bell Street by his widow 15 years ago.

One question still remains unanswered to this day.

Why had such a mild mannered unassuming young man turned killer?

One theory is that Finlay had become obsessed with his "girlfriend" and had intended asking her to run away with him. Had she refused he would have shot her.

Alastair Dinsmor MBE, curator of the Glasgow Police Museum, said:"Up to that point Finlay had been a respectable young man from a good family.

"The murder of a police officer was his first criminal offence.

"The fact that he committed suicide meant there was no trial and no opportunity for witnesses to tell their story or for him to offer his own explanation."

After his death a series of fund raising events for his widow and young son that year raised £5000.

Alastair who is a retired police inspector added:"There would was no way Constables MacLeod and MacDonald could have predicted that Finlay was armed and they would not have been on their guard when they went to arrest him "After all this was a respectable middle class area with low level of crimes and at that stage Finlay was just a suspect in a theft.

"There were also no specialist firearms teams that could be called upon at the time for back up as there are now "The officers just had to handle the situation as best they could.

""It's a case that has unfortuntely been lost in the mists of time that is why we have a special display in the museum to remember the bravery of the five officers in particular Constable MacLeod."