'I hate Campbell - I can't stand to look at his face'

JOE Steele has revealed his hatred for co-accused Thomas "TC" Campbell just days after both men were finally cleared of any involvement in the ice-cream war killings.

Mr Steele, 42, spent 18 years in prison for the murder of six members of the Doyle family in 1984.

However, yesterday, he accused Mr Campbell, 51, of being "up to his neck in the ice-cream wars" and claimed that, during their incarceration, he could barely look at his co-accused.

In a newspaper interview, he revealed: "All this time, people believed TC and I were close friends. The truth is we were never friends. I’ve hated him for years and blame him for destroying my life. It got to the stage where I couldn’t even stand to see his face. But we were welded together in the eyes of the public and the legal system. To have spoken my mind would have meant I’d never be free.

"We were the ‘Glasgow Two’ - a marriage truly made in hell. I never want to set eyes on him again as long as I live. I hope he rots for all the evil he’s done."

Petrol was poured into the tenement flat in Ruchazie where the Doyle family lived on 16 April, 1984. Christine Doyle Halleron, 25, her 18-month-old son, Mark, James Doyle Snr, 53, and his sons James Jnr, 23, and Anthony, 14, were killed in the resulting fire.

The family were targeted because they refused to give up their van route in Garthamlock. Many ice-cream vans were believed to be used as a front for selling drugs, attracting the attention of gangsters keen to take a slice of the huge returns on offer.

Mr Steele added: "I was cleared 100 per cent of any wrongdoing involving the Doyles and I never had anything to do with ice-cream vans. But TC was up to his neck in that business [the ice-cream wars].

"I didn’t know the Doyles, I wasn’t in competition with them. But TC and his family were. I know where I was the night the Doyle family were massacred in their beds. It’s up to other people to explain where they were."

Last week, the Court of Appeal decided the murder convictions against both men were unsafe. The Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill, Lord MacLean and Lord Macfadyen quashed the convictions after a psychologist said is was "very improbable" police officers’ statements implicating Mr Campbell would be so similar and accurate.

However, yesterday, the original trial judge, Lord Kincraig, slammed the decision to clear the men. The retired judge, now in his eighties, said: "The Court of Appeal has usurped the function of the jury. The function of the jury is to decide questions of fact not law.

"They seem to have said that evidence [the police statements] is not believable, which is the jury’s province. That’s a decision in fact. The court of appeal has decided in fact the jury was wrong.

"I cannot accept there was a conspiracy among the police. That’s the implication of the [appeal court] judgment, but I don’t accept that."

Over the last 20 years, both Mr Campbell and Mr Steele have vehemently denied any involvement in the murders.

Mr Steele broke out of prison four times to protest his innocence. In 1993 he superglued himself to the gates of Buckingham Palace.

Two appeals against the convictions failed. The case was finally referred to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in April 1999. Both men were granted interim liberty in December 2001 after spending 16 years in jail pending their third, successful, appeal last week.

Mr Steele claimed that the police officers who "fitted us up" were now dead.

He named former CID Detective Chief Superintendent, Charlie Craig and Detective Superintendent Norrie Walker as being responsible for the evidence which led to the men’s conviction.

"The senior cops who fitted us up are long dead and their underlings have been disgraced by the Court of Appeal," he added.

"Every cop in Scotland knows who they are and they will have to suffer the guilt on their conscience."

In 1988, Mr Walker was found dead in his fume-filled car, and Mr Craig died in 1991 at the age of 57.

Mr Campbell is now calling on the Crown Office to order a fresh inquiry into the murder of the Doyle family. He is also expected to sue Strathclyde Police for compensation.

However, Mr Steele accused Mr Campbell of hypocrisy.

"He now pretends to show remorse for the Doyle family," he added. "But if he had spoken the truth at the time, maybe they might have at least had the chance to get on with their lives and at least put an end to their terrible heartache. All I wanted was for people to stop calling me the Ice-Cream Killer."

Mr Steele insisted he will not be calling for a fresh inquiry into the case. He added: "I can’t get my 20 years back and no amount of money can ever compensate for that."

Mr Campbell could not be contacted, and his legal representative did not return repeated calls from The Scotsman.