Scotland unsolved murders: Who killed Alexander Blue?

From day one the police met a range of obstacles in their bid to catch Alex's killer.

The murder appeared motiveless and officers had problems untangling his complex financial affairs.

No witnesses to the attack came forward and a £25,000 reward went unclaimed.

Twenty one years later the police appear to be no closer to solving the case and bringing closure to the victim's family.

READ MORE: Who killed Alexander Blue? Cops re-examine evidence as net closes in on killer

Today in a new eight part crime series the Herald investigates his murder and asks the question: "Who killed Alexander Blue?"

Twenty one years ago successful businessman Alexander Blue had been enjoying the late evening sunshine in Glasgow's west end before heading home.

Though a sociable individual, the 41 year old was also a man just as happy with own company.

The high achiever dressed smartly, wore expensive shoes and thought nothing of paying up to £600 for a designer suit.

Alex was also a kickboxer, a keep fit fanatic who enjoyed working out at home and drove a top of the range Porsche with a private plate.

Alexander Blue

He had been a promising goalkeeper as a youth and a keen disco dancer who won a number of competitions. 

A man who stood out from the crowd, but was just as capable of blending in unnoticed.

He rarely drank and never smoked. However one of his few guilty pleasures was good coffee.

He spent some of that sunny Monday evening in his favourite coffee bar the Beanscene in Cresswell Lane, just off bustling Byres Road.

There he was seen intently studying some business papers before leaving around 8pm.

What happened after that remains shrouded in mystery until the police received an anquished phone call around 12.20am the following day, Tuesday, June 25, 2002.

A neighbour had found an unconscious Alex lying in a pool of blood in the driveway of his luxury ground floor flat in Dundonald Road in nearby Dowanhill.

The door of his Porsche was lying open, as was the door to his home.

Alex died two days later in Glasgow's Southern General Hospital from horrific head injuries, having never regained consciousness.

The injuries were so bad that his elderly mother Kathy Blue failed to recognise her son at first when she visited him in hospital.

READ MORE: Police launch fresh appeal to find killer of Glasgow man

While a surgeon who later operated on Alex was overheard heard to day:"They didn't leave me a lot to work on."

In the early days of the investigation detectives were faced with a series of major obstacles.

Most of Alex's business dealings were largely conducted in cash, with few transactions recorded on paper. 

His firm, the Taxi Centre in Queesnborough Gardens, Dowanhill, supplied cars to the private hire taxi trade and was doing well with a reported £7 million annual turnover.

However Alex had also been made bankrupt in 1999 owing just under £79,000.

His three year bankruptcy had been discharged only two weeks before his murder.

Alexander Blue was beaten to death after being visited in his Dowanhill apartment

He was now legally able to take up a majority shareholding in the Taxi Centre which he had helped establish two years earlier.

Another problem was a lack of sightings of the victim in the hours leading up to his murder.

A man thought to be Alex was seen carrying a briefcase in Byres Road between 4pm and 7pm on June 24 before he went to the Beanscene.

It was said to contain £30,000. Neither the money nor briefcase were ever found.

It was also believed Alex had been in the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant in trendy Ashton Lane earlier that day and customers were traced through their credit card receipts in case they had seen anything.

There was an unconfirmed later sighting of Alex around 10pm that night in Ashton Lane with three mystery men.

Diners at the nearby Ashoka restaurant were also contacted to see if they remembered seeing him or the men. 

Initial police inquiries showed Alex, a single man, was from a respectable law abiding family and the second of three brothers.

READ MORE: Will we ever discover the real identity of Bible John?

His only criminal conviction was for clocking cars in the 1990s.

As a result police struggled to find a motive for the murder of a man who had no obvious criminal connections or enemies.

They could only assume his murder was related in some ways to his complicated financial and business affairs.

The man who led the murder investigation, Detective Superintendent David Swindle, now retired, said at the time: "Alex Blue was a friendly, affable guy.

"Why would somebody want to kill such a pleasant, well-liked individual?"

One theory is that Alex Blue was carrying the £30,000 towards a house purchase in Westbourne Gardens in nearby Hyndland.

Alexander Blue

He'd told pals he was in the process of buying a property and planned to view it on June 26 — the day after he was attacked.

It was later discovered the home had never been on the market.

Detectives tried in vain to trace a 'David Hobbs' or 'David Robertson' who Alex was due to meet at 4pm on June 25.

Around the time of the murder a neighbour heard at least two men men arguing in his flat, but the identity of the visitor has never been established.

Detectives also released an e-fit of a male seen coming out of Alex's home a few nights earlier but he was never identified and never came forward.

Despite a £25,000 reward offered by his Taxi Centre colleagues, police were met with a wall of silence.

There was little information forthcoming from the public or his business associates.

The murder inquiry team used a forensic accountant for the first time to examine Alex's finances in the hunt for clues but drew a blank.

They questioned more than 5000 people and took more than 2000 statements from friends, family members and business associates.

Alexander Blue

The bankrupt Alex had also avoided creditors by placing his Dundonald Road home in the name of an associate.

After his death the flat was sold for £365,000 and it's £108,000 mortgage paid off.

It later emerged that Alex had been concerned for his own safety in the days leading up to his murder and thought he was being watched from the bushes outside his flat. 

He had planned to have security lights installed outside his property but was killed before the work could be arranged

In the 21 years since the murder police have continued to draw blanks in their search for Alex's killer or killers.

No one was seen arriving or leaving the flat the night he was murdered.

Police held a man for questioning in 2004 but he was released.

The murder also featured on the BBC television series Crimewatch and an STV documentary called Unsolved. 

Over the years Alexander's older brother Billy Blue, 65, has been vocal about the need to keep the investigation open and critical of a 2015 decision by the Crown Office to mark it as a cold case.

Now on the 21st anniversary of his sibling's murder he still remains hopeful that their mother, now 90, will finally see justice one day.

Billy, who lives with Kathy in Glasgow’s Robroyston, believes an attack had been ordered on Alex, which was then executed in the early hours of June 25.

He also believes that Alex knew his killer or killers and may even have welcomed them to his home the night he died.

Billy told the Herald:"You have to realise that Alex could look after himself and was a big chap.

"He had been trained in kickboxing by a Scottish champion and was normally very alert.

Alexander Blue's killer has never been caught

"If he had any suspicions about who called at his door then he would not have let them in or been overpowered. especially at that time of night.

"The car for was left open and it wasn't stolen, which tells me that it was a targeted attack

"They didn't try to rob his house and he had no defensive wounds which tells me he didn't fight back."

Billy then added: "He was obviously caught off his guard.

"That tells you it was somebody he was comfortable with who put him at ease and who he trusted.

"Alex may even have been expecting him.

"He may not have known everyone who was there that night but there was one person he would know well.

"There was obviously nothing at the time that spooked him, which unfortunately cost him his life."

Billy has given police his own personal dossier on the murder and believes three men carried out the early-morning attack.

He has also provided the name of a fourth man - a wealthy Glasgow businessman - he thinks sanctioned the hit.

In 2012 Billy and Kathy donated £91,400 from his £140,000 estate to the hospital charity CHAS, which cares for terminally ill children.  

The family had used a firm of solicitors to try and track down what cash assets he had left.

But they encountered the same tangled web of financial affairs that the murder squad detectives had.

To this day police insist they are still determined to bring Alex Blue's killers to justice. 

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes of Police Scotland’s Homicide Governance Review, said: "We acknowledge the heartache and distress that the Blue family have suffered over the last two decades as they seek answers and justice for Alexander. 

“This case remains under review. Police Scotland never considers cases closed and the passage of time is no barrier to the investigation of unresolved homicide cases."