Double shooting horror at family home

The couple, named locally as James and Diane Harley, were discovered at their home in Bishopbriggs, north of Glasgow.

The couple, who are in their mid-40s, are understood to have two children.

It was not revealed by police last night if the children were at home at the time of the shooting.

Armed police and ambulance crews rushed to the house at 7pm yesterday after a 999 call from concerned neighbours. The bodies were discovered by police a short time later at 7.45pm.

Strathclyde Police launched a major investigation into the incident as they closed off the town's St Andrew's Avenue, where the couple have lived for 11 years.

A force spokesman said: "The bodies of a male and a female have been found in a property in St Andrew's Avenue, Bishopbriggs, at 7.45pm. A full report will be sent to the procurator fiscal and a full post-mortem will be held to establish the exact cause of death."

It is not believed that police are looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.

Police continued to block off entry to the street last night, but said there was no risk to members of the public.

It was understood Mr Harley was a well-known local taxi driver. A company called SRS International, which rents out stretch limos, was also operated from the semi-detached house, overlooking Bishopbriggs Golf Club.

Last night a nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I can't believe something like this has happened in a quiet street like this.

"My phone number is very similar to the business that was operated from the house and I have had the odd phone call from people complaining about limousine hire and that kind of thing. There was no indication of anything very serious."

The double shooting is the latest in a recent spate of suspected gun crimes in the Glasgow area. Most of these have not proved fatal however, and in Scotland there were only two murders by shooting in 2008-9. Most recently a known gangster Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll was shot dead in his car in the car park of an Asda superstore in the Glasgow suburb of Robroyston on January 13.

The growing problem of gun crime prompted Stephen House, the chief constable of Strathclyde Police, to call for every new firearm to be test-fired to get a record of the unique striations, tiny scratches, the rifling on its barrel leaves on bullets. Mr House believes such a measure, as part of an overhaul of UK gun laws, would help to quickly establish the origins or legal ownership of every weapon used in a crime.

He said: "Effectively you would be storing the DNA of every firearm. It would mean that you could match every bullet to a gun and every gun to an owner."

The Scottish Government has also called for gun laws to be devolved to Holyrood from Westminster.