Double funeral for Lyons crime clan pair shot dead in Spanish bar

A joint funeral has been held for two major crime figures more than a month after they were shot dead in a Spanish bar.

Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan were gunned down in a beachfront bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol on 31 May.

Both men had spent the evening watching the Champions League final before they were targeted, just before midnight, by a lone gunman.

Michael Riley, 44, from Liverpool, has been accused by Spanish police of the murders with a full extradition hearing scheduled for later this year.

On Friday hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respects to Lyons Jnr, 46, and Monaghan, 43, at Bishopbriggs Crematorium in East Dunbartonshire.

Both men were linked to the Lyons crime group, which is based in the west of Scotland.

It has been engaged in a violent feud with the Daniel family and their associates which dates back more than two decades.

Lyons Jnr survived a previous attempt on his life 18 years ago when he was ambushed by Daniel clan enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll in Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

It followed an incident which was widely credited with taking the rivalry with the Daniel family to another level.

In November 2006 Carroll allegedly used a 4×4 and a tow rope to topple the headstone of Eddie Jnr’s brother, Garry, who was only eight when he died of leukaemia in 1991.

The following month two men in a blue Mazda pulled up outside a garage in Lambhill, in the north of Glasgow.

Raymond Anderson and James McDonald put on old man face masks, then walked into Applerow Motors and opened fire.

The owner, David Lyons, took cover but his 21-year-old nephew Michael – Eddie Jnr’s cousin – was shot dead.

Eddie’s brother, Steven, was injured along with his associate Robert Pickett.

The feud claimed a further victim on 13 January 2010 when Carroll was shot dead outside an Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow, which was busy with lunchtime shoppers.

Mongahan was arrested over the murder in August 2010 but he was acquitted in May 2012 after a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Less than five years later he was shot in the shoulder outside a Glasgow primary school after dropping his child off.

The gunman was pushing a child’s buggy when he opened fire on Muirdykes Road near St George’s Primary, Penilee.

Two associates of the Daniel group were both cleared of the attack at a trial but were later convicted for other organised crime offences.

Monaghan is believed to have moved to Spain soon after the school shooting.

It was reported that he owned the Costa del Sol bar, bearing his name, where he and Lyons Jnr were killed.

It has since reopened under a new name.

The double murder follows a wave of gangland violence in Scotland since March.

It has resulted in a series of assaults, shootings and firebombings against individuals linked to the Daniel group in the east and west of the country.

Detectives working on Operation Portaledge, set up in response to the violence, have so far made 50 arrests.

Police Scotland has maintained it has no evidence the double murder is linked to the feud, despite conflicting claims by a senior Spanish officer.

Chief Supt Pedro Agudo Novo last month confirmed Lyons and Monaghan were killed within seconds of each other by a lone gunman who fled the scene on foot.

According to the officer, the suspect’s gun jammed after he killed Lyons Jnr with a single shot outside the bar.

He then pursued Monaghan inside and fired two more shots which proved fatal.

Chief Supt Agudo Novo last month highlighted the “professionalism” of the shootings and the suspect’s “perfectly planned” escape from Spain.

He also alleged that the killer was a member of the Daniel crime group.

BBC Scotland News understands that investigators in Spain and in Scotland were surprised by Chief Supt Agudo Novo’s public statement.

The position of Scottish detectives is that there is “no current evidence” linking the shootings to the Daniel group.

In response to Chief Supt Novo’s comments, Police Scotland repeated the carefully-worded statement they issued three days after the murders.

And last week Chief Constable Jo Farrell said the force “wasn’t aware” of any evidence the murders were linked to the feud, or had been planned from Scotland.

Michael Riley, of Huyton, was arrested on an international arrest warrant in the Liverpool area on 13 June in connection with the shootings.

On 20 June, Mr Riley appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.

Asked by the court clerk if he wished to give his consent to be extradited back to Spain, he replied: “No, I do not.”

Mr Riley, who was remanded in custody, will return to court in October for an extradition hearing.