Brentford Security Guard Murderer Dies in Prison
Alan Byrne gunned down John McWilliams in the eighties
The van John McWilliams was guarding outside Great West House. Picture: YouTube
March 3, 2026
Alan Byrne, the convicted gunman responsible for one of Brentford’s most shocking killings, has died in HMP Liverpool at the age of 75. His death closes the final chapter on a criminal career that included a notorious murder on the Great West Road, a dramatic armed escape from custody and more than a decade spent on the run.
Byrne was convicted of killing Securicor guard John McWilliams, 58, during an attempted armed robbery in June 1984 at the former British Oxygen Company headquarters at Great West House, on the corner of Boston Manor Road. Byrne and an accomplice targeted a cash collection of around £9,500, shooting McWilliams at close range as he attempted to protect the delivery. A second guard was also shot and seriously injured.
McWilliams, described at the time as a dedicated and long-serving employee, died at the scene. Byrne was arrested, charged and convicted the following year. He received a life sentence in 1985, later increased to a minimum term of 30 years.
In 1995, while serving his sentence at Frankland Prison near Durham, Byrne was taken to Newcastle General Hospital for cancer treatment. Two masked gunmen burst into the ward, threatened prison staff with firearms and freed him. The group fled in a waiting red Rover, later found abandoned in Arthur’s Hill, Newcastle.
Police at the time suggested Byrne may have been broken out by criminals who intended to kill him, as he was believed to have made enemies in London’s underworld. He remained at large for 12 years, living under false identities across Europe, until he was arrested in the Netherlands in 2007 for drugs offences. After serving an eight-year sentence there, he was extradited back to the UK in 2012 to resume his life term and face additional firearms charges relating to his escape.
Byrne spent his final years back in the high-security estate. His death at HMP Liverpool on 1 February has prompted the usual Prisons and Probation Ombudsman investigation into deaths in custody.
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