Welcome back to This Day in Scottish History. I’m your host, Colin MacDonald, and today we are diving into a dark chapter in Glasgow’s criminal history—the House of Blood murders. These gruesome killings occurred on October 17, 2004, in Crosshill, Glasgow, and shocked not only the local community but all of Scotland. The chilling nature of the crime left a mark that resonates to this day.

It’s a story filled with violence, betrayal, and tragedy. At the center of it was Edith McAlinden, a 36-year-old drifter who had just been released from prison a day before the horrific events unfolded. Edith had a history of crime, including convictions for theft and assault, and had lived a transient lifestyle. She found herself back at the top-floor flat on Dixon Avenue, a tenement in Crosshill, where her boyfriend, David Gillespie, lived. Sharing the flat were two other men: the elderly Anthony Coyle, 71, and their landlord, Ian Mitchell, 67, who Edith referred to as "Pops."

As often happens in such tragedies, the night started innocuously, with drinking and arguments. But tensions escalated violently. An altercation broke out between Edith and Gillespie, and in a blind rage, Edith repeatedly stabbed him in the thigh, severing his femoral vein. He bled to death in the flat, and this was only the beginning of what would become an unimaginable crime spree.

Realizing what she had done, Edith panicked and called her 17-year-old son, John McAlinden, for help. He arrived at the flat shortly thereafter with his friend Jamie Gray, just 16 years old. What followed was a horrifying series of events that would earn this scene the infamous moniker “The House of Blood.”

When John and Jamie arrived, they weren’t there to clean up or help; instead, things escalated. Ian Mitchell, their landlord, who had witnessed Gillespie’s murder, became their next victim. John McAlinden viciously attacked the elderly Mitchell, stabbing him and repeatedly kicking him in the head, causing fatal brain injuries. As the violence raged on, the third tenant, Anthony Coyle, had barricaded himself in his bedroom, likely terrified of what was unfolding around him. But his locked door provided no safety. John and Jamie used a drill to break into Coyle’s room. Once inside, Jamie Gray beat Coyle to death with a golf club, ensuring that no witnesses would remain alive.

As if scripted from a nightmare, the flat was drenched in blood—so much so that it would lead to the crime being dubbed the “House of Blood.” After the murders, Edith wandered to a neighbor’s flat, desperate and disoriented. She told her neighbor, James Sweeney, that something terrible had happened at Mitchell’s flat. When Sweeney entered the flat, he was confronted with the sheer horror of the scene. Blood covered the floors and walls. Realizing the magnitude of what had happened, he immediately called the police.

When authorities arrived, they found Edith clinging to the lifeless body of her boyfriend, Gillespie. It was clear that she had been involved, but they quickly deduced that others were responsible for the carnage as well. The brutality of the crime led police to initially suspect that multiple strong men must have been involved, but it would soon be revealed that the killers were Edith, her son John, and Jamie Gray—a trio whose combined rage had left three men dead.

The trial began in May 2005 at Glasgow High Court. By then, all three defendants had been arrested and charged with murder. Initially, they denied their roles in the killings, but under the weight of overwhelming evidence, they each changed their pleas. John admitted to murdering Ian Mitchell, Jamie to killing Anthony Coyle, and Edith confessed to fatally stabbing David Gillespie.

On June 29, 2005, Edith McAlinden was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 13 years. Her son, John, and his friend Jamie Gray, were each sentenced to a minimum of 12 years for their roles in the killings. Justice had been served, but the scars left behind by this horrific event lingered in the community, with the memory of the blood-soaked flat on Dixon Avenue haunting many.

The case, however, did not end there. In 2016, John McAlinden was released from prison on license but soon found himself back behind bars in 2018 for breaching the conditions of his release, further underlining the troubled path that these individuals continued to follow even after the horrors of that October night.

This story, with its themes of familial loyalty gone terribly wrong, extreme violence, and tragic loss, serves as a somber reminder of the depths of human despair. The “House of Blood” remains one of Glasgow’s most notorious crimes, a moment when a perfect storm of rage, alcohol, and dysfunction culminated in a tragedy that won’t soon be forgotten.

Thank you for joining me on this journey through a dark moment in Scottish history. I’m Colin MacDonald, and this has been This Day in Scottish History. Haste ye back tomorrow for another deep dive into Scotland’s past. Stay safe, and remember: history teaches us more than just facts—it reminds us of the human stories that shape our world.

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