'Ice Cream Wars' killer admits guilt on death bed

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Gangland hood in death-bed confession
GARY MOORE REVEALS SENSATIONAL TRUTH BEHIND CRIMES THAT HAVE GRIPPED THE NATION
James Douglas,
29/08/2010
notw.co.uk

FEARED gangland hood Gary Moore proclaimed he was going straight to HELL - after sensationally confessing to carrying out the infamous Ice Cream Wars killings. The evil thug, who died this week, admitted he killed six members of the Doyle family in an arson inferno at the height of a Glasgow drugs feud. He told a source close to the News of the World: "Aye, it was me that did them. All six of them." The callous thug added: "I torched them. Do I regret it? Not one bit." Vicious Moore also made two other startling crime confessions which we can outline fully today.

He revealed he had a furious row with slain prostitute Diane McInally on the night she was killed in 1991. Allegations that he and another man had murdered her were dropped by the Crown due to lack of evidence. He also told how he DELIBERATELY set out to kill the son of hardman Jimmy Boyle in 1994. Moore was convicted of culpable homicide and jailed for eight years, but would have landed a life sentence if he'd been found guilty of murder.

Once Scotland's most feared underworld enforcer, Moore was found dead at his Glasgow flat on Tuesday. He had been ill for some time with liver problems and other ailments caused by drug and alcohol abuse. But earlier he had made a series of frank admissions. The most remarkable of them was the revelation that he HAD been behind the Doyle murders in 1984.

Moore spoke to a News of the World contact in a tenement flat in the city's Govanhill district. Slugging whisky and chain-smoking nervously, he let slip his grim secret. He said: "I'm a bad man. You have no f******g idea what I've done. When I die I'm going to hell. Hell. That's the only place for me. There's no room for me anywhere else." Then, leaning in closer, Moore told our man: "I have something to tell you. It was me that killed that family. Remember? The Doyle family. I killed all of them. Aye, it was me that did them. All six of them - I TORCHED them. There, I've said it." The fiend added: "Do I regret it? Not one bit. It was what it was. I'm a bad man. Evil? Maybe, yes. There's no escaping that. And there's no hope for me. Take my word for it. I did what I did and now I'll live with it."

The Ice Cream Wars erupted in Glasgow's east end 26 years ago. Rival gangs used ice-cream vans as cover for drugs sales. But spiralling violence culminated in the horrific blaze in Ruchazie on April 16, 1984. The inferno killed James Doyle, 53, sons James Jnr, 23, Andrew, 18, and Anthony, 14, and daughter Christina Halleran, 25, plus her 18-month-old son Mark. Moore faced trial in October 1984 accused of murder, but was cleared at the High Court in Glasgow due to insufficient evidence. His co-accused Tommy "TC" Campbell, now 58, and Joe Steele, now 47, were found guilty of the deadly attack and jailed for life. But both were freed in 2004 when appeal judges ruled their convictions were a miscarriage of justice.

Thomas "Tamby the Bear" Gray, who also appeared in the dock with Moore, was jailed for 14 years for shooting at Andrew Doyle's ice-cream van. He died from throat cancer three years ago, aged 48. But before his death Gray also laid bare the true facts of the family slaughter. And he named Moore as the instigator, revealing that the maniac sloshed the Doyles' front door with petrol before lighting it. Gray claimed the attack was meant as a "frightener", not mass murder. Publicly, Moore claimed he was at home in bed at the time and maintained he was set up by senior cops. But only now can the vile killer's true role in the infamous atrocity be confirmed.

A source close to Moore said: "The fact he torched the Doyles was a closely guarded secret. It really was startling when he made his confession. He'd been drinking but he was honest. You could see it in his eyes." Moore also revealed how he'd argued with tragic Diane, 23, hours before she was killed. The heroin addict's partly-clothed body was found in Pollok Park, Glasgow, in October 1991. She had been battered and strangled with her tights. Moore and Dale "Dagger" Clark were arrested and police later sent a report to the procurator fiscal alleging they were the killers. Both denied being responsible and the case was eventually dropped due to lack of evidence.

But during meetings with the News of the World, Moore agreed he had met Diane, below, on her last night. He said: "She was forever trying to scrounge drugs. I was with her in Argyle Street and she was pestering me for money and heroin. When I told her I wasn't giving her anything she started shouting and arguing. I tried walking away but she kept following, screaming abuse. I told her if she didn't stop I'd BELT her."

Dianne McInally

But cagey Moore added: "If you're asking me if I killed her, I'm not going to admit to that. I believe someone else probably picked her up and murdered her. When police questioned me I was able to provide an alibi." Heartless Moore also spoke about the pre-meditated slaying in May 1994 of James Boyle Jnr - son of the killer- turned-sculptor.

He was serving a six-year jail term for assault and theft when he learnt his girlfriend was having an affair with 27-year-old "Jamer". Moore was granted compassionate leave from Noranside open jail after saying he wanted to visit his child. He then confronted Boyle Jnr in Oatlands, Glasgow, and stabbed him through the heart. Moore was charged with murder but told the High Court in Glasgow he had been warned Boyle, below, had a gun and so he was acting in self defence. The jury believed his version and convicted him of only culpable homicide. He was jailed for eight years.

But he later told the News of the World he had PLOTTED the killing in his prison cell. Moore said: "The night before I'd gone through it all in my head. I even told a fellow inmate, 'I'm going to kill him'." Moore's revelations about Jamer were first made to the News of the World in 2004 as we exclusively chronicled his story. Now the FULL horror of his many crimes - laid bare for the first time - will hopefully bring some peace to family and friends still grieving for lost loved ones.

Moore worked as an enforcer for his friend Arthur "Arty" Thompson and his dad Arthur, the notorious Glasgow Godfather. Underworld gang bosses regularly used him as a minder. His string of associates included Ian "Blink" McDonald, 49, Sammy "The Bear" Ralston, 46, and Stewart "Specky" Boyd, who died in a car crash in the south of Spain in 2003, aged 40. Moore was also pals with armed robber Ricky Taylor, who died in a police cell in 2004, aged 41, and hitman Frank "Iceman" McPhie, 51, who was shot dead in 2000. Another doomed pal was George "Goofy" Docherty, who was stabbed and run over in a Glasgow street in 2006 when he was 46.

Moore's enemies included Tam "The Licensee" McGraw, who died of a heart attack aged 55 in 2007, and gun-runner Paul Ferris, 46. Last night fellow gangster "Blink" McDonald said: "Gary Moore was the scariest man in Scotland. You messed with him at your peril - his enemies will be glad he's dead."

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This is quite something if it's true - The Ice Cream War Murders was probably one of the biggest news stories in recent Scottish history and there has been a lot written and made about those who were originally accused.