'Gun for hire' hitman theory emerges after double gangland shooting in Spain
Early reports suggested the killer was Scottish, however a source with detailed experience of dealing with major underworld incidents like this believes that it is almost certainly not the case.
Claims a hitman flew from Scotland to murder two gangsters in a Spanish bar have been described as "highly doubtful" by one expert.
Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jr were gunned down in Fuengirola on Satuday night. Early reports suggested the killer was Scottish, however a source with detailed experience of dealing with major underworld incidents like this believes that it is almost certainly not the case.
Speaking to the Scottish Daily Express, the insider revealed: 'The logistics of organising someone to fly down to Spain, carry out the hit and then make good their escape are extremely complicated.
'You need a middle man in Spain to supply the weapons as you would not risk bringing it out yourself. You need someone with local knowledge to arrange a route to the scene of the attack and obviously, an escape plan. On top of that you need to get that individual out of the country undetected.'
He added: 'All-in-all, it makes the Scottish hypothesis highly doubtful to me. Why go to all that trouble when there are people already in Spain who are willing to do your dirty work for you - for a price, of course!
'The Costas are full of Moroccans and Albanians who are simply ' guns -for-hire'. It is much more feasible that this what happened here on Saturday. Life is cheap for these kids and as well as getting paid, it gives them a lift up the criminal ladder by gaining kudos.'
Major crime bosses like the Dublin-formed Kinahans, who've moved to Spain, usually use people they know and trust on the ground, due to so many of them actually relocating to Spain and their subsequent familiarity with the region, the source added.
The insider added: 'The fact whoever did this was in-and-out of the bar in 25 seconds and that indicates a high degree of professionalism.
'Added to this, the tight clustering of the wounds to Monaghan's chest that would also tell me that this individual had done this before and had been trained. Possibly ex-military.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
'He knew exactly who to kill, where to shoot and not to panic. It was a classic 'gangland execution' and not some random nobody given instructions and a gun for the first time, that's for sure''
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
32 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Hamilton by-election: How Labour 'defied the odds' and Reform ripped up the rulebook
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Anas Sarwar was buzzing. The triumphant Scottish Labour leader told journalists his party had defied the bookies, the pollsters and the pundits by winning the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, and it was now 'game on'. He had a point. Almost everyone thought the SNP would keep hold of the seat, albeit with a much reduced majority. In the end, Labour's candidate, Davy Russell, beat his Nationalist rival by 602 votes. It was a narrow victory, but a win is a win. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On Friday, as Labour held a victory rally in Hamilton, one party spinner purchased a "humble pie" - technically, an apple flan - from the Bayne's bakery next to their campaign HQ and used it to tease journalists who had written off Labour's chances. A Reform UK election billboard poster in Larkhall | PA Alas, it wasn't long before Professor Sir John Curtice, the polling guru, rained on their parade with some cold, hard numbers. The result, he said, was actually 'way below' what Labour needs if it wants to win next year's Holyrood election. "I think the honest truth is that neither Labour nor the SNP can be really particularly happy with this result,' he told The Scotsman. Professor Sir John Curtice has an important message about how to restore the public's trust in politics and democracy (Picture: Leon Neal) | Getty Images Instead, the most important development in terms of its wider implications lies elsewhere. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Hamilton by-election was a tight three-horse race between Labour, the SNP and Nigel Farage's Reform UK. The latter came in third, but still secured a remarkable 26 per cent of the vote, outperforming its national polling. In light of this, Sir John said, the possibility that Reform might come second next year, ahead of Labour, 'is not an outcome that we can presume is out of the bounds of possibility'. Like it or not, Reform is now a force to be reckoned with in Scottish politics, and all without having a separate leadership team in place north of the Border. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The spectre of Mr Farage dominated the by-election campaign, and his visit to the constituency on Monday received huge amounts of coverage. His rivals also spent a great deal of time talking about him. The First Minister repeatedly portrayed the by-election as a two-horse race between the SNP and Reform - an analysis that turned out to be somewhat flawed, to put it mildly. "Reform's performance, 26 per cent, is more than you would expect in Hamilton, if the result there were simply reflecting what the opinion polls have been telling us,' Sir John said. "Now there are [a few] possibilities. One is that the Reform campaign in the constituency might have been particularly effective. I certainly think that Mr [Ross] Lambie was a relatively strong candidate. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "And it may well be that Labour and the SNP made the cardinal, classic mistake of giving lots of lovely publicity to your opponent's election campaign. "Or it may be that the polls are indeed underestimating Reform somewhat. We did see Reform doing better than expected in the English local elections, and then the polls caught up with what the local elections were saying." The polling expert added: "For those of us who weren't consumed by the day to day events in Hamilton, we were going 'hang on, the only thing that anybody is hearing about this by-election campaign is what Nigel Farage is saying, as advertised by Anas Sarwar and John Swinney'." Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse was prime territory for Labour, and exactly the sort of seat it should be winning. Nevertheless, a narrative developed during the campaign the party was in trouble, and there was speculation it could even come third. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That did not happen, and Mr Sarwar is quite right to celebrate a hard-earned victory. Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour party, celebrates with deputy leader Jackie Baillie. | Lisa Ferguson Mark Diffley, the pollster, said it was a 'big win' for Labour. However, he said it was 'not right' to say the party had hugely outperformed its polling. 'National polling puts Labour at 20 per cent, down two points from 2021 Holyrood election,' he wrote on social media. 'In this by-election, Labour's vote share fell by two points from the Hamilton result in 2021.' Labour bosses credited their victory to activists rolling up their sleeves and hitting the doors. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "For a long time, people looked at the SNP and thought they had the strongest communications strategy, the strongest digital outlook and they had the strongest field operation,' Mr Sarwar said. 'I genuinely believe we beat them in all three of those areas. We ran the most significant and best ground operation in any constituency in the history of the Scottish Labour party in this by-election." Meanwhile, John Swinney, the First Minister and SNP leader, told journalists he would 'consider the implications' of the result. 'There's nothing quite like being on the doorsteps for several weeks to hear what people are thinking and feeling, and you hear it very directly,' he said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Asked about a potential Cabinet reshuffle, he said: 'Obviously I've got to consider all the issues about the ministerial team. [Energy Secretary] Màiri McAllan will be concluding her maternity leave soon, so these issues will be considered.' While his rival celebrated in Hamilton, Mr Swinney took questions at the SNP's HQ near the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. It was, understandably, a muted affair. But spare a thought for the Scottish Tories, who secured just 6 per cent of the vote. The party will meet for its annual conference in Edinburgh next weekend, where leader Russell Findlay will have the unenviable task of trying to build some momentum.
Daily Record
40 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Boy 'gang raped by classmates on Spain school trip' before being blackmailed
The sickening attack was said to be the culmination of severe bullying at school. A teenage boy was allegedly gang raped by five of his classmates during a school trip, leaving him in a catatonic state. The victim, now 16, was just 13 years old when the horror incident occurred during the sports trip to Malaga, Spain. He was forced to keep quiet about the abuse he suffered out of fear the group would target his younger brother. The bullying had started at his school in Valencia, with the youths, three of them under 14 at the time, mocking his acne and glasses and excluding him from social activities. Things spiralled into the alleged attack in March 2022. He is said to have been ambushed in a hotel corridor before being forced into a bathroom and locked in, while some members of the gang raped him while the others encouraged them, the Mirror reports. According to a reconstruction of the sickening turn of events, some of those involved had said: "let him suffer, let him suffer, I want to see him suffer." The teen was reportedly blackmailed into keeping quiet while suffering humiliation every day, and received 300 malicious phone calls from one of the perpetrators, with more threats sent via social media. He endured it for another two months before collapsing in his mother's arms and falling into a catatonic state. The trauma is said to have caused amnesia, which he has since sought help for from a psychologist. Spanish media reported that he also suffers from "chronic post-traumatic stress disorder with severe episodes of dissociative amnesia". Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. He was taken to hospital, and admitted a further three times over 35 days. The psychologist raised the alarm, reporting the alleged incident and abuse to the boy's school and the police. The teen was able to remember his alleged attackers' names in his first appointment with the psychologist, but could not recall all the details. Two years later, one person was charged in Valencia's Juvenile Prosecutor's Office, and could face 15 months locked up if found guilty. The others said to be involved were either too young to be charged with a criminal offence, or their involvement has not yet been proven. According to MailOnline, a teacher at the victim's school said: "Everyone at school knows a student was raped. The principal banned trips and overnight activities outside of Valencia after the complaint, ten children in the same grade left the school, and the members of the parent-teacher association resigned."
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
Moment driver nearly ploughed into group of children caught on camera
A local has hit out over incidents in the area. A Scots driver narrowly missed a group of children as they were crossing the road. The heart-stopping moment, which took place in Edinburgh, was caught on camera. Three children were crossing the road on Arkaig Gardens in the south of the city, as a red car waited for them to pass. But a black vehicle zoomed by, narrowly missing the group. The last of the trio just made it across the road before the black vehicle passed, with the Sunday, June 1, 2025 incident caught on CCTV, Edinburgh Live reports. The concerned resident whose children were crossing has said the neighbourhood has rising problems with 'speeding and dangerous driving', with motorists 'using the estate as a cut-through'. They believe it was 'only millimetres from being a fatal accident'. Bogdan Adamczyk said: "We are experiencing daily incidents of speeding, dangerous driving, and antisocial behaviour involving loud, illegal and antisocial exhausts on surrounding roads, especially from delivery drivers and other vehicles using the estate as a cut-through. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. "Most worryingly, a near-miss involving a child was recently caught on video, only millimetres from what could have been a fatal accident. This is not an isolated case; it reflects the dangerous conditions that parents, children, elderly residents, and pedestrians with prams face every single day. "With a school extension underway, traffic will only increase, making the situation even more dangerous. Speeding vehicles are a constant threat."With a school extension underway, traffic will only increase, making the situation even more dangerous. Speeding vehicles are a constant threat. "Children walking to and from school, parents with prams, elderly residents, and anyone not inside a vehicle are made to feel intimidated and unsafe simply for using the road."
