A notorious traveller family has been blamed for firebombing a van amidst a brutal war between clans in Scotland. The Record has reported on a series of incidents in recent weeks involving the feuding McGinley and McPhee tribes.
The long-running conflict between the two families escalated earlier this month after a showdown in Rutherglen where men brandished shovels at their rivals. A number of terrifying clashes between the gangs have since followed, with footage online showing vicious attacks on homes and vehicles in Scotland and at locations down south.
Video message to Billy McPhee
A video circulated on Monday, with the caption: "The Brown's and O'Neill's message to Billy McPhee", shows an orange Transit-type van with three holes on the shattered windscreen of the vehicle as a result of the blaze. A man says: "Billy, you must be joking, sending countrymen down to burn the old scrap van this morning, but you lost a Bentley, pal."
"You lost a f***ing Bentley in your big old house and this is your achievement? This is your accomplishment? You are a f***ing little rat, Billy." As he speaks, the camera pans around the van and shows the damage caused by the fire. Both windows on the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle are also shown to have blown out. The seats inside the vehicle are badly charred and are covered in white ash. The body work beside the window on the passenger side also has black scorch marks.
High-speed chase in Glasgow
Last week, a high-speed chase between a van and a car took place on Knightswood Road in Glasgow. Footage taken from inside a van shows a man wildly screaming: "There you go, there you go, we done it, running boys" as the van chases after a black car. The van clocks up dangerous speeds as it races past rows of houses in the residential area. As it nears in on the vehicle a passenger inside the van can be heard excitedly shouting "hit it again, go on James."
One day later another clip was released showing a mangled red car that was trashed after a confrontation. A man can be heard bragging: "Bad job boys, bad boys. If you want to do a mission then do it right, boys." Another man comments: "Ya McGinley b*****s. You got broken, chased and ran - another one for the McPhees." The front windscreen is shattered but the damage appears to be only on one side of the car.
Rutherglen clash and Middlewich attack
The violence erupted at the start of the month after the McGinleys brandished shovels at the McPhees in a clash outside a newsagents shop in Rutherglen. The McPhee family posted the confrontation on TikTok in which a member of the crew can be heard hurling abuse at their rivals. The man shouts: "You got me charged with attempted murder, you dirty grasses"
Following the Rutherglen incident, an attack was launched at a McGinley-linked caravan site in Middlewich, England. Footage showed a tipper truck reversing at speed into vehicles parked in the driveway of the property and a brick garden wall collapsing. Dozens of masked men wielding weapons then jumped out of a convoy of cars. Shocking scenes showed the men trashing cars and the windows of the home with baseball bats and pick-axes. The truck used to ram the driveway was then set on fire during the chaos.
