Craigneuk in the shadow of a gun

death of a

young man. Audrey Gillan reports on the fears of a locality that tries

to

suffer in silence

THE blue edifice towers above Craigneuk and casts a shadow over every

house in the scheme, its stark white lettering spelling the demise of

the community and the rest of Lanarkshire.

Some may say the writing was always on the wall for Ravenscraig, but

for the people of Craigneuk -- who watched the lifeblood of the

community dry up -- the joke isn't funny any more.

Below the weathered concrete of the redundant steelworks' chimneys

another fire is burning, rekindled by the murder last week of

21-year-old local man Douglas Bryce. The community which has suffered

redundancy and deprivation is holding up its hand in protest at recent

troubles.

For a number of years sporadic violence has blighted the estate.

Knives and razors were usurped, replaced by guns and even hand grenades.

Dreadful deeds were spoken of in hushed tones, but never to the police

-- people just kept mum for fear of reprisals.

Much of the violence has surrounded the Murdoch family, one of whom

was shot in the leg on the night Mr Bryce died. In December last year,

Mr John Murdoch, aged 35, was shot in the spine and paralysed from the

neck down. A second bullet lodged in a knee. His younger brother, Mr

William Murdoch, aged 30, was shot in the hand. Three teenagers, all

related, were acquitted of the shootings a few months later.

Last summer, Mr William Murdoch's wife was looking out of her window

and saw a man about to throw a hand grenade at her house. While no-one

was injured in the subsequent explosion, windows in Golfhill Road were

shattered. Before the hand-grenade incident, shots had been fired

through the bedroom window of Mr Alan Murdoch's house in Winning

Quadrant, Wishaw, while his wife and children were still there.

While the family deny they are the cause of last week's trouble, they

have been hounded, their windows shattered. Broad white banners have

been smeared with the words ''Murdoch must go'' and for the moment some

of them have.

But people in Craigneuk are not just angry with the Murdochs. There

are other families whose behaviour is considered at best ''antisocial''.

''There's about six,'' said one woman yesterday, but the police say it's

really about three.

Craigneuk is a strange kind of community. In the heart of Lanarkshire

it is sandwiched between the semi-urban sprawl of Motherwell and Wishaw,

it has no real focus, and its true heart is its people. The saying of

old was that Motherwell has steel and Wishaw has coal but Craigneuk just

steals coal.

The terraced council houses with their tight gardens engender a

close-knit community. Stand with Sadie on the corner and she will nod to

Billy, hello Jessie and blether with Betty. She will tell you which

family's married into which, how very few people move out of the area

and who has satellite television.

Hanging over the fence, talking to a neighbour, mowing the lawn, or

simply relishing a drink in the Era Bar, the people of Craigneuk all

tell the same story. ''Trouble has been brewing for a long time'', and

''people have been living in fear for too long''.

The few churches, shops and pubs Craigneuk has have not been enough to

bring the community together but last week's death was. It has

engendered a sense of unity. In the current spirit the tenants'

association, planned for some time, might just get off the ground.

At the small hut that is the Glencassels Community Project, Mrs

Gertrude Kenmure, a voluntary worker says that something was bound to

happen sooner or later. The people are tired of their housing problems,

their lack of amenities, the trouble on the scheme. They had even

planned a meeting three weeks before Douglas Bryce was murdered.

After making lunch for local school children, Mrs Kenmure and her

friends Agnes and Tricia are sitting round a Formica-top table, smoking

and chatting over what's to be done to secure the future for Craigneuk's

children. They understand why so many of their neighbours have taken to

the streets in protest or have stood simply at the site of the murder in

silence.

''Any mother wants to know that her kids can walk up the street

without getting hit by a stray bullet. That's what they have taken to

the streets for,'' said Mrs Kenmure.

The women are worried that stories of family feuds and even protection

rackets will ruin Craigneuk's reputation forever. While the guns will be

remembered, the #10,000 raised for leukaemia research is too easily

forgotten.

Mrs Kenmure sighs as she puts her hands in the pocket of her pinny and

says: ''The people of Craigneuk are wonderful people. Just a few of them

are bad. Hopefully something good will come of it and it will be a

better place for everybody.''

At the steadily-growing shrine of flowers on Meadowhead Road, someone

who has married into the Bryce family lays a bouquet and mutters

something about the tragic loss being the community's gain. Another

spoke of a community ignored by housing and social work services, left

to struggle alone.

Walk the streets of Craigneuk, along Flaxmill Avenue, up Gateside

Road, and the tension is palpable. Police cars patrol the kerbs, keep

watch on the empty Murdoch houses, waiting for nerves to boil over.

People are becoming more sensitive with each newspaper report they read

-- say someone is innocent and they don't believe it and it's like blue

touchpaper ready to go up.

At the community centre, Mr Patrick Cullen, a life-long Craigneuk

resident, says since the 'Craig closed down there's nothing but drink or

drugs for the young to look forward to. ''But it's the same all over

Scotland,'' he rejoins.

Sitting stooped in a chair, 79-year-old Mr Jimmy Lee says Craigneuk

has never been like this. He lives just five doors away from where

Douglas Bryce was killed. ''The place seems as if it's ready to erupt.''

And last night another protest marked one week since an unknown gunman

pumped bullets into the night leaving a 21-year-old for dead. It will be

a week that Craigneuk will never forget.