Forgotten racist murder in Glasgow shows need 'to stand up for minorities in society'
EXCLUSIVE: A new book tells the terrifying story of how a violent racist shot dead Jamaican-born Hector Smith at his home in central Glasgow.
The story of a forgotten racist murder that shocked Scotland 50 years ago has been retold in a new book examining the circumstances of the sickening crime.
Hector Smith was shot dead at home in front of his terrified family in February 1975 by convicted bank robber and aspiring Loyalist terrorist Brian Hosie.
The tragic story unfolded in Glasgow at a time the city was preparing to celebrate its 800th anniversary. While the brutal murder made frontpage news, it was quickly forgotten amid a backdrop of widespread political upheaval in the UK and abroad.
Author and activist Liam Turbett has now reexamined the case and links it to a growing campaign against the far-right in the mid-1970s.
His new book, Glasgow 1975, details the senseless killing of Hector and places it in the context of a city struggling to reinvent itself as numerous residents moved out and thousands of homes were demolished.
Turbett told the Record: "I couldn't believe it hadn't been written about before and was so little known.
"The stories we tell about the past are important for how we see ourselves, yet it's easy for things to slip away. The book is an attempt to ensure that this important and shocking story from Glasgow's recent past is not forgotten."
Hector, a Jamaican-born dad-of-three, was living in the Woodlands district when he was gunned down as part of a botched plot to extort money from local women suspected of being involved in prostitution.
Hosie, a fantasist obsessed with paramilitary violence, concocted the cack-handed scheme while out drinking with two accomplices as a way of raising money for Loyalist extremists.
Their brainless actions would see the trio arrive at Hector's flat near Charing Cross to demand money from his partner, who the gang believed was a sex worker.
Hosie, then aged 24, had recently returned to Glasgow after spending time in Belfast trying to become a fully fledged member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). He also openly bragged about being a card-carrying member of the racist National Front (NF).
After Hector refused to hand over the £10 demanded by the gang, Hosie shot him dead with a stolen revolver.
The racist thug was quickly apprehended along with his accomplices by police and would later be jailed for life.
The full story of the investigation and trial is told in revetting detail by Turbett.
Asked why he thought Hector's tragic death was forgotten, the author said: "The whole thing was seen as being quite seedy and there was no official political response to it.
"Scotland also didn't have a Caribbean community in the same way as some English cities at the time, and anti-racist movements were in their infancy, so there was none of the campaigning or protests around the case that we might expect to see now.
"The alleged involvement of the UDA terrified people too, and there were real fears of importing the conflict in Northern Ireland over to Scotland."
Asked what lessons could be learned from the events of 1975 in Glasgow, Turbett added: "The Scotland of today is a very different place from 1975.
"But the need to stand up for minorities in society and not allow hate speech to go unchecked - particularly whenever there are attempts to blame different minority groups for deep-seated social or economic problems - remains as important as ever."
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