Hired hitmen are reportedly waiting in the wings to carry out a string of revenge attacks after two British criminal kingpins were shot dead on the Costa de Sol
Fears that an all out gangland war will explode in Scotland have been sparked after two huge kingpins were gunned down in Spain.
Now the underworld is braced for a scattergun of revenge attacks after the brutal murders of Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr from the Lyons gang. Masked gunman took out the pair in Monaghans bar in Fuengirola, Spain on Saturday night just after the Champions League final ended.
Graphic footage showing Monaghan scrambling to escape his killer was even broadcast on Spanish TV. The video was captured seconds after Lyons Jnr, 46, was shot dead outside the bar. It showed Monaghan, 43, with blood seeping through his white t-shirt from a chest wound, propping himself up on a table before collapsing in front of horrified tourists.
The Mirror reported how British nurse who heard the shots and ran to help, held the hand of Ross Monaghan as he lay dying. She said: “I was sitting with my partner in a pub when we heard one shot followed by a gap and then four more shots. We all ran into the bar and I was shouting ‘get inside’.
“At the time they were celebrating the football because the game had just ended. Someone said a person had been shot and because I’m a nurse I ran to Monaghans bar to see if I could help. I got to the first person who was lying on his back on the terrace who I later discovered was Eddie Lyons Jnr. He was clearly dead and had what appeared to be a bullet wound in his chest and one in his abdomen. A bar lady told me there was another one in the bar.
“The other man, Ross, had one shot in his chest, just on the right side. He was lying on the floor and was still alive but his breathing was laboured. He was wearing a white T-shirt and shorts and trainers and he looked younger than 43. There was blood everywhere, on the floor and around the service hatch to the kitchen. There was nothing I could do, he wasn’t bleeding from his mouth so I just held his hand, stroked his hair and waited for the emergency services.”
It is understood Monaghan had an exit wound in his back where the bullet had passed through his body. The nurse said armed police arrived on the scene first who moved him to the recovery position before performing CPR.
Monaghan, who was believed to be the owner of the bar, was a suspect in the 2010 murder of Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll outside in Robroyston, Glasgow. He was charged but the case was later dropped. He fled to Spain after he was shot in the shoulder after dropping his child off at a primary school in Glasgow in 2017.
Spanish police said on Monday that no arrests have been made. A spokesman said: “The investigation is continuing into the fatal shooting of two men at a pub in Fuengirola, with nothing new at the moment.”
Sources are now warning of more carnage to come with rumours of hired hitmen waiting to take out a string of gangland targets. An insider told the Sun: “The murder of Monaghan and Lyons has taken this ongoing madness to a whole new level. It’s been boiling for weeks and everyone was wondering when there was going to be a fightback for all the attacks in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“Only a few select people would have known something this brazen and brutal was being planned. This is the work of professional underworld hitmen and carried out in front of scores of innocent people. It’s raised the stakes in this war beyond belief.”
The shootings were the latest chapter in a bloody feud between the Lyons network and the rival Daniel mob that has lasted over two decades. It has led to a string of shootings and knife attacks including the murder of Michael Lyons in 2006 and Daniel enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll in 2010.
A year later Monaghan was on remand in Glasgow’s HMP Barlinnie charged with Carroll’s murder when detectives issued him with a threat to life warning, known as an Osman.
One source said at the time: “Monaghan had a meeting with cops just before Christmas and was told to watch his back. Osman Warnings are only issued when an individual is believed to be at serious risk of being killed.
“Even though Monaghan is in prison, the police are taking no chances. The nature of the crime he is accused of has made him a number of enemies.”