A man who was at the centre of a gangland vendetta investigation has been found dead at his home. Robert Brockett was named by witnesses after CCTV pictures emerged from an acid attack at the home of Councillor Graeme Campbell.
Police did not have enough evidence to charge Brockett, 41, and the investigation is still continuing into another two firebomb attacks at the councillor’s home at Strathaven, Lanarkshire. Scottish Conservative shadow community safety minister Russell Findlay had close involvement in the case and gave support to Cllr Campbell.
Findlay said he had been made aware that people in Strathaven who’d seen CCTV images of the acid attack had believed the man in the images to be Brockett. He said: “This man was named as a suspect in connection with the second attack on Councillor Campbell’s home.
“Witnesses told police they believed it was him in the CCTV. However, this was insufficient to take further action.“I have no doubt that this individual was connected to the organised crime terror campaign being waged against Mr Campbell and other innocent people in Strathaven.”
The Conservative councillor, who serves on South Lanarkshire Council, suffered three attacks on his family home in Strathaven in less than two years. The incidents, which have been described as an attack on democracy at the Scottish Parliament, came after Campbell spoke out about organised crime. The first incident involved a firebomb in May, 2019, when a £45,000 BMW was destroyed.
That was followed up by the acid attack in August, 2020, when a man wearing a hoodie and baggy tracksuit bottoms daubed the corrosive substance on two BMWs, which were badly damaged. The worst attack came in June this year, when a hooded man poured petrol on his two cars before setting them alight. The blaze took hold of his family home, almost completely destroying it, bar two rooms.
Campbell and wife Fiona were asleep upstairs bit managed to flee in time before the fire wreaked havoc. The incident led to the councillor announcing that he was withdrawing from politics. “After the first attack, my wife came up to me in tears because somebody on social media said, ‘Maybe they will come back and kill that Tory councillor, because there’ll be one less Tory family in Scotland.’ It’s horrendous.”
We told earlier how 200 landlords knocked back his bid to rent a new home, making it difficult for his family to feel safe. There is a £3,000 reward for info on the most recent fire attack. Addressing Brockett’s death, a Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A post-mortem examination will take place to establish the exact cause of death, which is not being treated as suspicious.
One local said: “I was woken up by what I thought was fireworks being set off but when I went out this morning I couldn’t believe what had happened.
“This is the third time he has been targeted and the people responsible need to be caught. “It is outrageous for a councillor to be targeted like this and have his family’s lives put in real danger.”
The councillor, who represents Avondale and Stonehouse, claimed he had been targeted over a case he had been working on as part of his role with the council He quit politics but returned to his role last year saying he would not take part in planning rows. A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Around 12.20am today, we received a report of a fire at a property.
“Emergency services attended and the fire was extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. No one was injured. “Enquiries to establish the circumstances of the fire, which is being treated as wilful, are ongoing.” Four days after the July 4 incidents in Milton, Glasgow, SOS Metals in nearby Ruchill was hit by a blast in a suspected linked attack.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police were made aware of a fire at a premises on Shannon Street in Glasgow around 2.15am on Thursday, 8 July, 2021. “The fire was extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and no-one was injured.
It comes as Scotland is in the grip of a blaze epidemic with over 40 unsolved fire attacks this year. Tory MSP Russell Findlay said they are feared to be connected to the 20-year Daniel-Lyons drug war in the city.
