Shootings in Spain's Costa del Sol: Who were Eddie Lyons Jr and Ross Monaghan?

Specialist violent crime officers are investigating after the killing of two Scottish men in an Irish bar in Spain on Saturday night.

The two victims – Eddie Lyons Junior and Ross Monaghan – have known connections to gangland crime in Scotland and were shot by a masked gunman who fled shortly after 11pm local time.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting at Monaghans Irish Bar in Fuengirola, around 25 miles south of Malaga in the province of Andalucia.

They have been involved in a rivalry with the Daniel organised crime group for more than two decades.

Who was Eddie Lyons Junior?

Eddie Lyons Junior survived an attempt on his life in 2006 when he was ambushed by Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.

That attack followed another incident that is widely regarded as having taken the Lyons vs Daniels gang feud to a new level.

In November 2006, Carroll allegedly used a 4×4 and a rope to topple the headstone of Eddie Jr’s brother Garry, who died of leukaemia in 1991 aged eight.

Eddie Lyons Jr’s cousin, Michael, was shot dead in 2007 after two hitmen from the Daniels opened fire at Applerow Motors, off Balmore Road in the Lambhill area of the city.

The hitmen were enforcers for the Daniel crime clan, believed to have been led by the late Jamie Daniel.

Who was Ross Monaghan?

Monaghan was arrested as a suspect in the 2010 shooting of Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, who was gunned down in a brutal gangland assassination in the car park of Asda Robroyston.

But he was acquitted after the judge at his 2012 trial ruled there was insufficient evidence.

Monaghan was also cleared of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of the two guns used in the shooting and torching the getaway car.

Monaghan fled to Spain in 2017 after he was shot outside a primary school in the Penilee area of Glasgow.

He had just dropped his daughter off at St George’s Primary School.

Scotland

Shootings in Spain could bring ‘new level of violence’ to organised crime in Scotland

The former director of Scotland’s DEA warned the murders of Eddie Lyons Jr and Ross Monaghan could see retaliation in Scotland.

Later that year, Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr were both cleared of being involved in a brutal street attack on three men outside the Campsie bar in Bishopbriggs.

The case collapsed after prosecutors withdrew the charges against them following two days of evidence.

What happened in Spain at the weekend?

Local media reported that a masked man pulled up outside Monaghans Irish Bar in Fuengirola at around 11pm and fired multiple shots.

The gunman then fled in the car, the report continued, with both men dying at the scene.

Police Scotland told STV News the Spanish authorities were leading the investigation and it was unable to comment on any potential links to a recent gang war in Scotland.

Graphic footage showing Monaghan’s final moments have been broadcast on Spanish TV.

The video – captured inside Monaghans – shows Monaghan with blood seeping through his white t-shirt from a chest wound, propping himself up on a table before collapsing.

Ongoing gang violence

Police Scotland said last month that 40 arrests have been made linked to ongoing violence in the west and east of Scotland.

In recent months, shots have been fired at buildings and a number of properties have been set on fire in and around Scotland’s two largest cities.

The fear is the shootings in Spain suggest the gang feud between the Daniels and Lyons has stepped up a level and could prompt further retaliation on Scottish soil.

Graeme Pearson, the former director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, told STV News that organised crime has become increasingly powerful across Scotland.

He said: “I don’t think that you could overestimate the impact that will arise from the deaths of these two men.

“Both Lyons and Monaghan have been part of organised crime and criminality in Scotland for well over a decade, and their names have been connected to a great deal that one calls organised crime.

“Their movement to Spain must be an indication that they didn’t feel thoroughly safe in Scotland. But this week we’ve discovered that even in Spain they can be reached and they were murdered.

Graeme Pearson, the former director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. STV News

“In the last 20 years or so, organised crime has become increasingly powerful. The Lyons family were a very significant family unit, who were known as very significant importers of drugs affecting Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.

“They were one of the many families who bypassed English criminals and made connections in Europe – and elsewhere in the world – to import, first of all heroin, and then cocaine into the country.

“Monaghan was well-known for his previous violence and was connected to the murder of a man outside an Asda supermarket many years ago, although a subsequent trial found him innocent.

“But that trial did reveal the degree of corruption that surrounded their involvement in public life in Scotland and was an indication of how powerful these crime groups have become.”

Operation Portaledge

During a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority Board last month, Chief Constable Jo Farrell provided an update on Police Scotland’s response to a number of targeted attacks in both the East and West of the country, including 37 arrests, under Operation Portaledge.

She said: “I utterly condemn the actions of those involved and thank our communities for their support and assistance in making Scotland a hostile environment for those involved in organised crime.

“A team of detectives is working closely with local policing officers and operational support colleagues. I also want to recognise and thank Scottish Police Authority Forensics for their contribution to what is one of our largest ongoing investigations.

“Our commitment to tackling organised crime is also underlined by Operation Intensity, which has resulted in 100 arrests as well as the seizure of illegal drugs and firearms.

“We’ll continue to work with partners at international, national, regional and local levels to clear organised crime and build resilience in communities and I want to thank colleagues in local authorities and the Scottish Fire and Rescue and the National Crime Agency for their support.”