Crimestopper : Fighting Crime on Scotland's Streets

Brutal murders. Bizarre crimes. Eccentric crooks. And Scotland's toughest gangsters. Bryan McLaughlin faced the challenge of tackling crime on Glasgow's mean streets and throughout Scotland for more than 30 years, finding himself involved with nearly 300 killings. He started as a bobby on the beat, worked in the elite Serious Crime Squad and later headed up the force's Criminal Intelligence Branch. When he retired he became a private eye, helping free the victim of one of Scotland's most notorious miscarriages of justice. Now Bryan McLaughlin lifts the lid on his dealings with notorious godfather Arthur Thompson, tells of his satisfaction at nailing slippery gangster Tam McGraw with an Al Capone-style tax sting, looks back on the bomb attack on Glasgow's High Court and reveals remarkable information about the legendary Bible John murders. As well as these notorious cases, Bryan also looks back at the human side of policing as he encountered it, including the touching tale of the old lady who grew a tree in her living room, the madman who killed a boy for throwing snowballs and reveals how a million-dollar heist in Germany was cracked because a Glasgow ned stole a video recorder. And who could forget the crooked businessman who had a lie-detecting elephant in his office and a teddy bear as his advisor? Or the strange encounters with murder victims who ended up in bizarre situations - up a tree, frozen to the spot and even one taking part in a game of cards. This is an astonishing memoir from one of our top police officers, sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious or macabre but always utterly fascinating.