War was being waged on the streets of north east Glasgow in the 1980s, when owners of rival ice-cream vans were battling over control the most profitable areas, and supplementing their income by selling stolen goods alongside the 99 cones and chocolate wafers. 

It was a turf war that turned into a murder investigation after six members of the same family were slain in a blaze that ripped through their tenement flat in Ruchazie as they slept.

This week, one of the men wrongly jailed for 18 years over the notorious 'Ice Cream Wars' was found dead in his home by his ex-wife. 

Thomas ‘TC’ Campbell, 66, and his co-accused Joe Steele were convicted in 1984 for the murders the Doyle family, including a baby of 18 months, before being cleared in 2004.

READ MORE: Cleared Ice Cream Wars accused Thomas 'TC' Campbell dies aged 66

What were the Ice Cream Wars?

Ice cream van drivers in the east end of Glasgow were being subjected to threats and harassment over the most lucrative 'runs' by gangs who were trying to flog stolen gear from the vehicles.

Vans were shadowed, drivers intimidated and customers terrorised amid attacks with baseball bats and knives, and eventually guns.

When 18-year-old driver Andrew Doyle refused to give in to intimidation, he and his family were targeted, and gunshots were fired through his windscreen in February 1984.

Just weeks later, in April, the violence came to a head when the family's top floor flat went up in flames after someone petrol-bombed their stairwell.

Of the nine sleeping inside, only three survived.

Who were the victims?

It was the mass murder that shocked the nation and claimed the lives of six members of the Doyle Family from Ruchazie, a family who were known to be hardworking, honest and, most importantly, innocent.

At around 2am on April 16, an unknown person crept into the family's close and torched the flat killing, dad James, 53, sons James jnr, 23, Andrew, 18, Anthony, 14 and daughter Christina Halleran, 25.

Christina's infant son, Mark, just 18 months old, also died in the fire.

Did they catch the killer?

Glasgow police were under intense pressure to solve the case. Less than four months after the fire, seven men appeared at the High Court in Glasgow, four of them charged with the murders and the remaining three on a range of lesser charges. In the end, Thomas Campbell and Joe Steele were convicted of the killings.

Both maintained their innocence throughout their imprisonment and subsequent appeals. 

Mr Campbell refused to cut his hair and went on hunger strike several times, seriously jeopardising his health, while Mr Steele escaped from prison three times - once even gluing himself to the railings of Buckingham Palace to draw attention to his case.

Mr Steele, who was 18 at the time of the murders, spoke of his hatred for Mr Campbell after his release, blaming the older man, who was 22 when he was jailed, for  his incarceration and distancing himself from any criminal activity.

In 1996, William Love, a police informer who claimed he overheard the pair admitting responsibility for the fire, admitted he lied under oath, and the pair were released on bail, pending an appeal.

The men had two appeals rejected before finally having their convictions quashed in 2004, after the Court of Appeal ruled the men had been wrongly convicted.

READ MORE: Crime writer Douglas Skelton remembers Tommy Campbell

Who really killed the Doyle family?

In 2010, it was widely reported that gangland enforcer Gary Moore had confessed to the killings shortly before he died, but two years later his widow told the press that her husband had been covering for his cousin, Gordon Ness.

Earlier this year, Mr Steele said he knew who had lit the match that fateful night but will never tell.

He claimed that Glasgow crime lord Tam McGraw, also known as The Licensee, was responsible for ordering the hit on the family.