ONE of the most tragic figures in the annals of Glasgow policing, Inspector Andrew Hyslop, the survivor of the notorious Allison Street police murders, has died on the island of Islay, aged 74.

A family friend told The Herald yesterday that every night since the fateful day in December, 1969, Andrew Hyslop had recalled the slaughter of his two colleagues before his eyes as he lay helpless but fully conscious. His life had been totally overshadowed.

The police murderer, the man who first shot Mr Hyslop and then twice calmly tried to finish him off as he lay helpless, was former policeman Howard Wilson, now aged 62 and in the thirtieth year of a life sentence. He is currently a Category C prisoner at Shotts.

The Allison Street, Govanhill, police killings were a shocking event, even by the earlier violent standards of Glasgow crime.

Mr Hyslop, the only child of a Glasgow policeman, had been commissioned in the Royal Scots and had served in the military police before joining the Metropolitan Police. He transferred to the City of Glasgow Police and, in the 1960s, as a sergeant, inaugurated its firearms training. One of his trainees was a constable, Howard Wilson.

Wilson left the police, disillusioned at his lack of promotion, and started a greengrocery in Allison Street, which was not successful. Along with a former police colleague, John Sim, and a mutual friend Ian Donaldson, Wilson was a member of a gun club in Bearsden.

With all three in financial trouble, they conceived a plan to wipe out their debts at a stroke - to rob a bank. What began as loose talk ended up as a reality, and the three successfully held up the British Linen Bank in Eastwood Mains Road, Giffnock, in July,1969, escaping with #20,876. A fourth accomplice was 21-year-old Archibald McGeachie, the raid driver. Emboldened by success, Wilson planned another raid but McGeachie refused to take part. He vanished without trace later that year, and the High Court concluded three years later that he was dead.

On December 30, 1969, the second raid was carried out - on the Clydesdale Bank, in Bridge Street, Linwood - and the three escaped with another large sum. But as they returned to Wilson's house in Allison Street, they were spotted carrying suitcases and a metal trunk by Mr Hyslop. Knowing and suspecting Wilson of being involved with stolen goods, he summoned colleagues - Constables John Sellars and Edward Barnet, and Detective Constable Angus McKenzie - and entered the house.

In the bloody events that followed, Mr Hyslop was shot by Wilson in the face and lay helpless as he gunned down Angus Mckenzie and Edward Barnet, coldly finishing Mckenzie off with a second shot to the head. He turned on the helpless Hyslop, only for the weapon to jam. Mr Sellars had locked himself in a bathroom and radioed for help and, as Wilson aimed again at Mr Hyslop's head, another constable dived on him.

The accomplice Sim had watched the slaughter, but took no part. Donaldson had earlier dived through a window and escaped. Both pleaded guilty to the robberies and were jailed for 12 years by Lord Grant. Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommendation he serve 25 years before consideration for parole.

He subsequently became associated with Jimmy Boyle, Larry Winters, and William MacPherson in the infamous Inverness ''cages'' riots, having previously been heavily involved in a series of bloody riots at Peterhead Prison.

Wilson and the others received an extra six years for trying to escape and attempting to murder six prison officers. He has since written a novel and, in 1994, on the 25th anniversary of the killings, protested to The Herald that he was being kept in prison because of politics.

The episode robbed Mr Hyslop of both his career and his health.

Andrew Hyslop, George Medal, will be cremated at Craigton Crematorium tomorrow, his coffin carried by Strathclyde Police officers.