Hitman disguised as father pushing pram preceded double murder of gangsters at Irish bar in Fuengirola

The murder of two men - Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jr. at an Irish bar in Fuengirola on Saturday, 31 May, was the culmination of a long clan war that originated in Scotland. Both men had taken refuge on the Costa del Sol to escape murder attempts on them back in their home country.

Monaghan had survived an assassination attempt in Glasgow, in 2017. He had just dropped his daughter off at St George's Primary School in Penilee, when a gunman disguised as a father pushing a pram, his face hidden behind a scarf, shot him. Ross was wearing a bulletproof vest and was only wounded in the shoulder.

Three days later, he was seen at Glasgow Airport, about to board a flight to Malaga. His past, however, continued to haunt him. His background and that of Lyons Jr were widely reported in the Scottish press back then. Both were gangsters from a clan involved in the drug-trading war.

Ross Monaghan had even been charged with the murder of Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll - a member of the rival Daniels clan, with whom the Lyons have been at war for decades. Carroll was shot 13 times in a supermarket car park in the Glasgow suburb of Robroyston in 2010. His death went unpunished in the eyes of justice.

Days before Carroll was killed, the other victim in the Fuengirola shooting - Eddie Lyons - had become the victim of another murder attempt. These cases are all linked to a series of assaults, shootings and bomb attacks in Glasgow and Edinburgh, for which more than 30 people have been arrested.

Although Monaghan and Lyons Jr escaped the front line in Scotland, the repercussions for their crimes followed them to the Costa de Sol. When Ross saw his friend killed before his eyes on Saturday night, he immediately leapt from his chair and tried to hide inside the Irish-themed Monaghan pub, which was filled with the crowd watching the final of the Champions League. However, the hooded gunman got to him before he could reach the bathrooms and gunned him down in front of eye witnesses, while bar staff dived for cover.

Spanish police investigators, led by the Udyco-Costa del Sol serious crime squad, knew the deceased extremely well - they had no problem identifying them, despite the fact that they had no ID documents on their bodies. The officers were also aware that the two had been targets in previous murder attempts. Officers fear that the violent clan war will continue, with more murders that could follow.