Twenty-five years after police-killer Howard Wilson brutally betrayed
his former colleagues and left a city in a state of shock, he talks to
George Hume about his crimes, life in prison, and the prospects of
freedom.
HOWARD Charles John Wilson intended it to be just one more visit to
Aladdin's cave . . . a bank robbery to ensure a Happy New Year with
money to burn, and no risk of getting caught. But as Hogmanay crowds
thronged Glasgow's streets two police constables were murdered in cold
blood, a third was grievously wounded, and the city, shocked by the
pitiless brutality in its midst, brought in the New Year in mourning.
The hurt of the widows and orphans, fellow officers and the city as a
whole was the worse when it was learned that the killer, Wilson, was
himself a former policeman. One of his fellow bank robbers had also
served in the force -- a double betrayal that reduced the senior
detective in charge of the murder inquiry to unashamed tears.
Slain by shots from Wilson's Soviet-made target pistol, each
deliberately sighted and discharged at close range, were Constable
Edward Barnett and acting Detective Constable Angus MacKenzie. Also
shot, and seriously injured, was Inspector Andrew Hyslop.
At the High Court, where Wilson admitted murder and attempted murder,
it was revealed that Constable MacKenzie would have survived, already
shot in the face, had not Wilson stood over his former colleague, taken
steady aim and discharged a second shot into the young detective's head.
That was 25 years ago come Friday . . . the Allison Street shootings
of December 30, 1969, a black act of infamy. This Hogmanay, Howard
Wilson, in a cell at Saughton Prison in Edinburgh, will celebrate the
passing of the old year with hope that the new will bring news of
ultimate release.
Sentenced to serve not less than 25 years -- told by the late Lord
Grant, the Lord Justice Clerk, that ''those who play for high stakes
must realise the penalties are equally high'' -- Howard Wilson says he
does not expect freedom for at least another three years and
acknowledges: ''They say 'you are doing a life sentence and you are
lucky if you get out' and they are right. I live in the real world --
accept that I will be lucky ever to be freed.''
Wilson's murder of two former colleagues, his shooting of a third and
his attempt to silence a fourth calling for help on his police radio,
was described in the High Court as cold, callous, and calculated. The
Solicitor-General for Scotland, the late Ewan Stewart, QC, giving a
minute-by-minute reconstruction of the shootings, said: ''The events I
have just described indicate an intention on Wilson's part not just to
disable in order to make an escape but, it must seem, an intention to
kill.''
Wilson's wife, Julia, who moved to Lochdochart Road in Glasgow after
the shootings at her home in Allison Street, has long since divorced him
and moved south with their two children. Wilson says he has lost touch
with them. He has spent almost all his thirties and forties in a cell,
is now aged 56 and expects, at the earliest, to get his freedom not far
short of his sixtieth birthday.
How did it come about that the 6ft 3in tall Wilson, a rugby player and
popular, well-behaved pupil at Glasgow Academy, a smart national
serviceman in the Army, 10 years a police constable in Glasgow, and
several times commended by his chief officer for zeal, turned to murder?
''Quite simply it was the temptation of easy money -- greed and
temptation. The message is clear: if I wasn't involved in crime there
would have been no weapons and no weapons would have meant no murders.
When you commit a crime you never think it will go wrong. You want to
take the shortcut -- you don't intend the catastrophe,'' says Wilson.
The catastrophe of December 30, 1969, was man-made and Wilson makes no
excuses -- he was the man that made it. The circumstances leading up to
the murders and the attempted murder took just 55 minutes to relate to
the High Court in February 13, 1970, when Wilson pleaded guilty, was
sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum 25 years, and
saw his two associates sent down for 12 years apiece for bank robbery.
A failing fruit-and-vegetable business, the court heard, left Wilson,
aged 31, in desperate financial straits. Also hard-up and in partnership
in a garage business in Hamilton were John David Sim, aged 22, for 18
months a probationary constable with Glasgow Police, and Ian Donaldson,
aged 31. Wilson refers to them today as ''guys I had known in the
past''. The three got their heads together, settled on bank robbery as a
form of income and, as Wilson puts it today, ''talk turned to will''. On
July 16, 1969, the three, together with another man never traced and
believed to be now dead, entered the British Linen Bank at Giffnock just
as it was closing for public business at 3.30pm.
The staff, including the manager, and one customer, were bound and had
pillow cases put over their heads. A pistol was held against the back of
the manager's neck, a woman, knocking to be admitted, was let in, sent
back out for her two-year-old son, and then had the pistol held against
her head and that of her child. The robbers brought their car to the
front door, loaded the proceeds of their raid -- #20,876 was stolen but
a briefcase containing #4430 was inadvertently left behind -- and drove
to Wilson's home where they divided the loot.
But five-and-a-half months later, the money spent and a new year just
hours away, the robbers struck again. This time their target was the
Clydesdale Bank in Bridge Street, Linwood. Once again they went in just
before closing time, once again a pistol was used to threaten, and once
again the robbers escaped, this time with #14,000 -- some of it bags of
silver coins stuffed into suitcases stowed in the boot of the getaway
car.
Appearing for Wilson at the High Court, the then Mr Nicholas Fairbairn
said on his behalf that debt was a cruel and relentless master
''creating in its victims the fantasy that one visit to Aladdin's Cave
would result in the terrible burden being gone for ever''. It was as
Wilson and his fellow bank robbers staggered from the car to the close
at 51 Allison Street, burdened by two heavy suitcases and a black box
laden with coins, that they were seen by officers driving out of the
yard at the rear of Craigie Street police station.
Two journeys had been necessary to move the proceeds of the raid from
the car to Wilson's ground-floor flat and it was during the second of
these that the men were spotted by Inspector Andrew Hyslop who was in a
Panda car with Constable John Sellars. Inspector Hyslop recognised
Wilson as an ex-policeman. Suspicious, he thought Wilson might be
involved in reset and Constable Sellars, given the time of year, thought
it might be whisky. They decided to investigate. Neither knew of the
bank robbery at Linwood.
Both officers went into the close at No. 51, stopped outside the door
of Wilson's flat and then went into the back court to look through the
flat's window. They saw nothing. Leaving PC Sellars in the back court,
Inspector Hyslop went back across the road to Craigie Street police
station and returned with reinforcements -- Detective Constable John
Campbell, Acting Detective Constable Angus MacKenzie, and Constable
Edward Barnett.
Even as they hurried across Allison Street to No. 51, the policemen
met Wilson -- going, he said, for a bottle of lemonade -- who asked
Hyslop how he was getting on. Inspector Hyslop, in turn, asked Wilson
about the heavy suitcases and the black box he had seen being carried in
just a few minutes earlier and demanded to know what was in them. Wilson
denied carrying anything. What happened next was described by Ewan
Stewart QC in the High Court. The two other bank raiders and the money
were found in Wilson's flat. Polite and co-operative, Wilson gave the
policemen no reason to suspect violence. He went into his bedroom and
returned to the door of that room just as Inspector Hyslop came out of
the bathroom where he had been searching for the black metal box seen
being carried from the car.
Mr Stewart said: ''He saw Wilson standing there alone with a pistol in
his right hand and his right arm extended, taking aim at Hyslop's head.
He tried to fire but there was a click indicating the pistol had jammed.
He pulled back the sliding jacket of the weapon to clear the obstruction
and proceeded to take aim again.
''The inspector rushed at him and he fired, striking Hyslop on the
left side of the face, spinning him round. He collapsed on the floor
unable to move though still fully conscious. It was then MacKenzie came
into the hall and Barnett came to the kitchen door. Wilson shot first
MacKenzie and then Barnett each in the head. Both fell, Barnett mortally
wounded. He died five days later.
''Hyslop witnessed next, as he lay helpless on the floor, Wilson step
forward where MacKenzie lay, take deliberate aim again at his head and
fire. Wilson then attempted to shoot Sellars who had taken refuge in the
bathroom. He had a pocket radio and he could hear Wilson shout: 'We'll
need to get this bastard, he's got a radio.''
But although Wilson managed to get his gun round the bathroom door he
was unable to get off a shot at PC Sellars. Colleagues in Craigie Street
police station, alerted by the desperate calls for help, poured into the
street but were uncertain of just where the shooting was going on.
Wilson was still in a killing mood. Inspector Hyslop stirred and Mr
Stewart, QC, told the High Court: ''Wilson noticed this and swung his
pistol to point at the inspector's head. With very commendable courage
and promptitude Campbell flung himself across the hall at Wilson before
he could fire again. Both fell and Campbell got hold of the pistol
barrel and he and Wilson struggled, with Wilson screaming at Sim to get
more ammunition from the car.''
Constable Campbell won the fight, got possession of the pistol and
held both Wilson and Sim at gunpoint. Donaldson ran off when the
shooting started. This week John Campbell, who retired from the police
eight years ago with the rank of chief inspector, was reticent about his
bravery. ''In a situation like that instinct takes over. Once I tackled
him it was one against one. He was a big fellow and it was some tussle.
I was pretty tired at the end but once I got a grip on the barrel of the
gun he very quickly gave up and I held them up with it. Then I went to
the door and shouted so that the others in the street would know exactly
where we were.''
Both Constable Campbell and Inspector Hyslop were awarded the George
Medal. Of Wilson and his sentence, Mr Campbell says: ''He wiped out my
colleagues and you cannot lose bitterness of that. But when it comes to
the length of his sentence I am prepared to leave that to the
authorities.''
Just three years after admitting the murders at Allison Street and
being jailed for life, Wilson was sentenced to six years when a jury
found him guilty -- together with others -- of assaulting five prison
officers and attempting to escape. But that cannot be added to his life
sentence.
He has already had a number of escorted visits to see relatives but
says that experiencing the pace of life 25 years on is exhausting. The
man who had ambitions, who went to an Aladdin's cave to fulfil them,
admits: ''Life is simpler in prison. What I am concerned with is the
price of peanut butter in the canteen; that is what we talk about now.''
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