Reece Trainer

A white van screeches into a Milton street as the sun drops over Glasgow. Kids are still outside. Seconds later, a shotgun is raised and John McGregor is shot dead. That brutal moment in 2021 is the centre of this story, but the roots run much deeper and far darker than one night’s violence.

We follow the chain back to 2010 and the daylight execution of Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, a feared Daniel-linked enforcer whose death never fully settled, even after a conviction. A later police corruption scandal reveals that surveillance intelligence about Carroll’s movements was leaked from inside the system, and although official reviews find no wider orchestration, the betrayal leaves a stain that gangland Glasgow does not forget. Against that backdrop, Reese Traynor grows up carrying a family name, a childhood trauma, and whispers that never quite fade.

From there, we track how the Daniel Lyons feud keeps renewing itself, how “intimidation” becomes murder once weapons are in play, and how a driver’s decision can carry life-changing consequences. We also take you through the investigation, the flight abroad, and the High Court proceedings in Stirling that bring sentences but not peace, as violence continues to echo across Scotland and into Spain.

If you care about Scottish true crime, organised crime in Glasgow, and how corruption and family loyalty shape outcomes, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your take on the hardest question here: can anyone truly break free?

Transcript

Glasgow’s Dark Reputation

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to A Dark City, the podcast that delves into the shadowy underbell of Glasgow, a city with a storied past and a reputation for resilience. Here we uncover the chilling true stories of serious crimes that have left their mark on the city's history. From notorious gangland wars to unsolved mysteries, join us as we explore the darker side of Glasgow and the people whose lives were forever changed by its crimes.

The Milton Shooting Unfolds

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The sun is sinking low over Milton, Glasgow, painting the tenement blocks in soft gold. Kids are out on the pavements, laughing, chasing each other, completely unaware of the darkness rolling in. Then, tires scream. A white, Vauxhall Corsa van skids into frame, doors burst open, a shotgun catches the dying light. In seconds, the laughter turns to screams. A man breaks into a desperate run, weaving between parked cars for cover. One shot rings out, clean, brutal, straight to the chest. He staggers, collapses, blood spreads across the concrete. This isn't fiction. This is real. This is Scotland's gangland reality in 2021. And sitting behind the wheel of that van, 25-year-old Reese Traynor, stepson of the notorious Kevin Gerbil Carroll, the Daniel Klan enforcer gunned down in his own broad daylight execution more than a decade earlier. Traynor didn't just stumble into this moment, he stepped straight back into the same violent cycle that stole his stepfather's life. But here's where it gets even darker. Gorble's murder in 2010 has never quite settled. Everyone knows the official story: a professional hit by Lyons family gunman, William Patterson. Case closed, conviction secured. Yet for years, quiet questions have circled in the shadows of Glasgow's underworld. Was it really that clean? Or did someone on the inside, someone wearing a badge, help make it happen? That scandal broke wide open after the fact. It didn't change the verdict, but it left a stain, it left doubt. And for a boy who was only ten when he lost his stepdad to that hail of gunfire, those whispers must have echoed louder than anyone knows. Some of the names mentioned in this episode will be familiar to regular listeners and have been covered in previous episodes. Today we're going deep into how a young man tied to one of Glasgow's most feared families ended up driving the getaway in a daylight murder. Do you think Gerbil's murder, the corruption scandal, the family name, really pulled the strings on what happened that August night? Let's unravel it together.

Kevin Carroll And The Dirty Leak

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To really understand how Reese Trainer found himself behind the wheel of that white Vauxhall Corsa on that fateful August evening, we need to step back into the shadows that shaped his early life. The same shadows that swallowed his stepfather whole. Kevin Gerbil Carroll wasn't just another name in Glasgow's underworld. He was a living legend of fear and brutality within the Daniel Crime clan. Growing up amid the hard edges of Northside estates like Possle Park and Milton, Carroll carved out a reputation as one of the most ruthless enforcers around. He wasn't subtle. Abductions, savage beatings, even the chilling desecration of rival family graves to send unmistakable messages. He lived right on the knife edge of extreme violence, the kind that doesn't forgive mistakes. Then came January 13th, 2010. In the middle of a busy supermarket car park in Robroyston, two masked gunmen walked straight up to his black Audi A3. They didn't hesitate. Thirteen rounds tore through the windscreen in less than 30 seconds, hitting him in the head and chest. Carol, only 29, was dead before help could arrive. The case eventually pointed to William Buff Patterson, a hitman tied to the rival Lyons family. Patterson fled to Spain, but was extradited, convicted in 2015, and handed a life sentence with a minimum of 22 years. Yet even with that conviction, Gerbil's murder has never fully settled into a tidy, closed chapter. The real lingering controversy isn't some wild claim that police pulled the trigger, there's zero evidence for that. But it does involve betrayal from within the system itself. A disgraced constable from Lothian and Borders Police, Derek McLeod, 43 at the time, was caught and jailed in 2011 for illegally dipping into secure police databases. He leaked highly confidential surveillance intelligence, details on Carroll's exact movements, the cars he used, his known associates. That information was passed to members of the Lyons crime clan, the very people who wanted gerbil gone. The scandal only came to light after the first major suspect, Ross Monahan, another Lyons associate, was acquitted in 2012. The trial collapsed, partly because of weak, forensic links, just a single particle of gunshot residue that the judge deemed insufficient, and questions swirled about possible contamination during a police raid on Monaghan's home. When investigators traced the leak back to McLeod, it raised uncomfortable questions. How much did that inside information give the HIT team the precise edge they needed? Did it compromise the broader investigation from the start? McLeod was sentenced to over three years in total, more than two for cannabis dealing, and 16 months for breaching the Official Secrets Act. But official reviews found no proof of wider police orchestration or direct involvement in the killing. It was one corrupt officer aiding rivals, nothing more. Still, in the tight-knit, distrustful world of Glasgow's gangs, those details fueled endless what-if whispers. The betrayal added another layer of poison to an already toxic story. For a ten-year-old boy named Reese Trainer, son of Carol's longtime partner, Kelly Beau Green, this wasn't some distant headline or underworld rumor. It was personal devastation. He was there in the aftermath, a child suddenly facing the brutal finality of broad daylight murder. The image of his stepfather slumped in that car, riddled with bullets, while shoppers went about their day, left a mark that time doesn't easily erase. Years passed, and Reese grew into a young man who, on paper at least, stayed on the fringes. Police Scotland never classified him as an active member of any organized crime group. He dropped out of his studies, took up work as a domestic energy assessor, and settled in the quiet, remote Hutter settlement at Carbeth in Stirlingshire, a cluster of historic wooden huts tucked along the West Highland Way, far from the city's noise. It could have been a clean break, a chance to build something ordinary. But family ties in this world run deeper than geography or job titles. The pull of the streets, the weight of the Daniel name through his stepfather, the unspoken legacy of violence, it all proved impossible to outrun. What started as a childhood trauma quietly morphed into something more dangerous, not just a memory, but a shadow he eventually stepped into, one that would lead him straight to that Milton Street in 2021. Gerbil's violent end wasn't merely a cautionary tale for Reese. It became the blueprint he followed, whether he meant to or not. And so, the shadow that had followed Reese Trainer since childhood didn't just linger, it began to move.

The Feud Ignites Another Killing

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By the summer of 2021, the old Daniel Lyons feud had long since stopped being about one stolen cocaine stash worth 20,000 pounds back in 2001. What started as a petty ripoff had hardened into something generational, decades of car park executions, pub stabbings, firebombing, and even targeted hits carried out as far away as Spain. There had been attempts at peace, meetings in Dubai that collapsed into more distrust, but the blood kept flowing. The war had claimed fathers, sons, brothers, and it showed no sign of slowing. On the evening of August 26, 2021, the latest fuse was lit in Milton, Glasgow. It began with phone calls buzzing through the network. Ronnie Daniel, brother of the late Daniel Klan boss, Jamie Daniel, was being threatened. The messages pointed fingers at Lyons' associates, including members of the Quinn family, allegedly confronting him just off Westray Street. In the world these men moved in, a threat like that wasn't something you ignored, it was something you answered. Malcolm McNey, then 61, was a Daniel loyalist who lived in the same quiet, scattered Hutter settlement at Carbeth in Stirlingshire, where Trainer had made his home. McNee wasn't some young hothead. He was older, hardened, unemployed, but fiercely protective of the family name he served. When he heard about the threats to Ronnie, he reached for a shotgun. In his mind, and he would later tell the court, this wasn't about murder. It was about sending a message, about warning off anyone who thought they could intimidate a Daniel without consequences. He needed a driver. He called Reese Traynor. Trainer arrived in his white work van, the same one he used for his day job as a domestic energy assessor. No disguises, no balaclavas, no attempt to hide who they were. They drove straight into Milton, pulling up around 7.55 p.m. as the last light faded from the sky. What happened next unfolded with terrifying speed. As the van rolled to a stop, a man, later named in court as James Quinn, swung a machete at the side of the vehicle, metal clanging against metal. Gathered youths nearby scattered in panic. McNey stepped out, shotgun visible, the weapon alone enough to send people running. But the real confrontation was still coming. Another car edged forward, blocking their path. In the front passenger seat sat John McGregor, forty-four years old, a known Lions associate, but also a family man, a grandfather. Words were exchanged through open windows, sharp, heated, the kind of exchange that can turn lethal in seconds. McGregor saw the shotgun. He understood the danger immediately. He threw open the door and ran, trying to put parked cars between himself and the threat. McNey didn't let him get far. He chased, leveled the gun, and fired once. The shot caught McGregor in the chest. He staggered forward a few steps, desperate, instinctive, before his legs gave out. He collapsed onto the pavement, blood spreading beneath him, while children who had been playing nearby stood frozen, staring at the nightmare that had erupted in their street. Trainer stayed at the wheel. The moment McNee scrambled back inside, he floored the accelerator. They tore away from the scene, hearts pounding, adrenaline surging. Later that night in Cumbernal, they set the van alight, hoping fire would devour any fingerprints, any forensic traces, any story the vehicle could tell. It didn't. John McGregor's family would later speak publicly of a needless death, a grandfather taken in the middle of an ordinary evening, gone because of a feud most people in Glasgow had never even heard of. In court, prosecutors acknowledged that Traynor had believed the shotgun was only there for intimidation, that no one was meant to die. But the judge and everyone else in that courtroom understood the same brutal truth. In this world, intentions mean almost nothing once a weapon is drawn. The risk of escalation is always there, hanging like smoke, and it shatters lives the moment someone pulls the trigger. That night in Milton wasn't just another gangland shooting. It was the moment the inherited curse caught up with Reese Traynor, and the moment the past he had tried to outrun finally pulled him all the way in.

Burning The Van And Running

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After setting the van on fire in Cumberno, Traynor left the area immediately. He was aware that the Lyons associates would likely come looking for him, and he also knew the police investigation was already underway. Rather than return to his usual routine, he went back to the Carbeth Hutter settlement in Stirlingshire, the place where he had been living before the incident. He stayed in one of the wooden huts there for a short time. The location was remote and far from Glasgow, which gave him a quiet space to consider his options and plan what to do next. That stay didn't last long. Trainer soon left Scotland altogether. He traveled first to England, then moved on to Spain, a place often used by people in similar circumstances to lie low, and eventually reached Mexico. He remained outside the UK for roughly two years. During this period, he kept a low profile by using simple precautions, changing phones regularly, dealing only in cash, and avoiding anything that might draw attention. While Trainer was abroad, the police continued their work without interruption. Detectives examined CCTV footage from the Milton area, including Westray Street, where the shooting took place. They gathered statements from witnesses who had seen the white van and the events unfold. Forensic examination of the burned van in Cumbernauld provided additional links. These steps allowed officers to identify Malcolm McNe as the shooter and Reese Trainer as the driver relatively quickly. Arrest warrants were issued for both men. McNey remained in Scotland and did not attempt to leave. He was arrested in the days or weeks following the shooting. On September 16, 2021, he made his first court appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court, where he faced charges of murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He offered no plea at that private hearing and was remanded in custody from that point forward. The case was later transferred to the High Court for further proceedings. Trainer, by contrast, had already left the country by the time the warrants were issued. Police intelligence confirmed he had gone abroad, so they applied for and obtained a European arrest warrant. Interpol was notified, and preparations began for extradition proceedings with the Mexican authorities. After approximately two years on the run, Traynor decided to return to the UK on his own terms rather than face formal extradition. In late 2023, he flew back into the country and was arrested at the airport as soon as he arrived. The arrest took place without any reported resistance or complications. With that, Traynor's period of evasion came to an end. McNey had been held in custody since 2021. Both men were now in the hands of the legal system, and the next phase, the court proceedings.

Guilty Pleas And Sentencing

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The legal proceedings for the murder of John McGregor took place at the High Court in Sterling in 2025. Malcolm McNey appeared there first, pleading guilty to murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice in March 2025, just before his trial was due to begin. On April 4, 2025, Lord Harrower imposed a life sentence on McNee, with a minimum punishment period of 22 years before he could be considered for parole. The judge backdated this to September 16, 2021, the date McNey was first remanded in custody. Lord Harrower noted the background of the case as part of the ongoing feud between the Daniel and Lyons organized crime groups, describing McNee as an associate of the Daniels and McGregor as linked to the Lyons. He acknowledged the guilty plea provided some modest benefit, reducing what might have been a 23-year minimum had the case gone to trial. Reese Trainer appeared in the same proceedings. He had already pleaded guilty earlier that year on March 5th, 2025, at the High Court in Glasgow, to possessing a firearm on the day and at the location of the murder with intent to commit an assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice by fleeing the country. At the April 4th sentencing in Stirling, Lord Harrower addressed Traynor directly, highlighting the awareness he should have had of the risks involved. The judge said, You ran the risk that the situation might escalate, as in fact it did, with disastrous consequences. You, of all people, must have been aware of that risk, your own stepfather having also been shot dead in broad daylight. Trainer received a sentence of 54 months in prison for his role, reflecting what the court described as a significant degree of culpability, despite not having a leading position in the incident. Another co-accused in related matters was Craig Robroy Gallagher, a high-ranking associate of the Daniel Group who had been charged alongside McNee and Trainer in connection with the broader circumstances. Gallagher was sentenced separately at the High Court in Stirling on the same day, April 4, 2025, to two years and six months for an axe attack on Lions rivals carried out in September 2021, chasing victims in a vehicle and confronting them well armed. This was tied to the same few dynamics, but not directly to McGregor's murder. For the family of John McGregor, the sentences offered a measure of finality after years of waiting. The outcome provided some closure, though the underlying tensions that led to the killing remained far from resolved.

Violence Spreads Beyond Glasgow

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Trainer's case sits within a much larger ongoing picture. The Daniel Lyons feud continued to produce violence and instability into 2025 and beyond. In May 2025, Eddie Lyons Jr., brother of current Lyons head Stephen Lyons and associate Ross Monaghan were shot dead in Fuengarola, Spain, at a bar co-owned by Monaghan. Spanish police linked the suspect, Michael Riley, arrested later, to the Daniels side, though Police Scotland stated there was no evidence the attack was planned or directed from Scotland. The Lyons family and underworld sources blamed the Daniels, leading to vows of revenge. Stephen Lyons, operating from locations in the Gulf after earlier arrests in Dubai, alongside figures like Ross Miami McGill, has been reported to coordinate responses from afar. In early January 2026, reports emerged of a phone summit between Ross McGill, leader of the Tamo Junto crew, involved in separate but overlapping conflicts with the Edinburgh feud with Mark Richardson and Stephen Lyons. The call was described as planning further attacks on mutual enemies, including remnants of the Daniel Network and Richardson-linked groups in Edinburgh. This reflected how grudges adapt and connect across cities and borders. Closer to home, incidents in Glasgow's Milton estates included firebomb threats, attempts to seize control of drug territories, and a steady stream of threat-to-life notices issued by Police Scotland, warnings to individuals believed to be in danger from serious violence. These notices have increased in recent years as feuds intensify. Operations such as Porter Ledge, primarily targeting the Edinburgh-based Richardson McGill conflict, have led to dozens of arrests, over 60 by late 2025, with charges ranging from firearms offenses to conspiracy and violence. While these efforts disrupt specific networks and secure convictions, the underlying rivalries persist, shifting tactics and locations as needed. Trainer's involvement from the 2021 shooting to his sentencing is one part of this broader pattern, one where individual action feeds into a cycle that shows little sign of ending.

Can Anyone Break The Cycle

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Reese Trainer's journey from a 10-year-old boy who witnessed his stepfather's murder in broad daylight to a 25-year-old man convicted as the getaway driver in another gangland killing, illustrates one of the hardest truths about organized crime in Scotland. Feuds don't end with one death or one conviction. They pass down through families, embedding themselves in the next generation. Kevin Gerbil Carroll's 2010 assassination, complete with the later revealed police corruption scandal involving leaked surveillance intelligence, left more than grief behind. It left a story, a reputation, and a set of expectations that Reese, despite not being formally classified as an active member of any crime group, could never fully step away from. Trainer's case is a single visible thread in this larger pattern. His 54 month sentence reflects the court's view of his role, not the Leader, not the shooter, but someone whose actions carried real weight in a high-risk enterprise. Yet the sentence also underscores a broader reality. Individuals can be punished, removed from the street, or even rehabilitated in prison. But the structures and grudges they were part of often outlive them. Whether anyone can truly break free from a legacy, this remains an open question. Some manage to distance themselves through distance, new environments, or sheer determination. The answer, in most cases, lies somewhere in between. Possible in theory, but extraordinarily difficult in practice when the stakes are measured in survival, reputation, and revenge.