The attacks were co-ordinated by William " Big Bill " Campbell , the UVF 's top commander in Scotland , who was possibly involved with the 1971 McGurk 's Bar bombing in Belfast which killed 15 people according to a book published in 2012 . A police investigation led to Campbell , along with eight other UVF members ( which included Angus McKenna ) , to be sentenced at Glasgow High Court in June 1979 and jailed . Campbell received a 16-year sentence for the pub bombings as well as criminal conspiracy related to firearms and explosives . The investigation wiped out the UVF 's Scotland cell . In 1995 his nephew Jason Campbell slashed the throat of a 16-year-old Celtic F.C. supporter in Bridgeton , Glasgow . He was jailed until released on parole in 2011 . William Campbell died of natural causes in 1997 and received a funeral in his native Bridgeton , a loyalist stronghold , with thousands in attendance
McGurk 's Bar bombing
McGurk's Bar bombing
Glasgow pub bombings