THE mother of Douglas Bryce, the man shot dead in Craigneuk last week,

yesterday made an emotional appeal for a woman caller to come forward

and help identify her son's killer.

A tearful Mrs Theresa Bryce pleaded for the young woman -- who called

Wishaw police station in the early hours of last Friday -- to contact

the police again.

Detectives investigating the murder believe the woman may hold vital

information but is terrified of coming forward. She gave the duty

officer at Wishaw an explicit account of the events surrounding the

death of Mr Bryce, who was found dying in the garden of his parents'

terraced house at Meadowhead Road, Craigneuk. Another well-known local

man, Mr Alan Murdoch, 28, was then found shot in the left leg in a car

less than a quarter of a mile away.

Yesterday, Mrs Bryce urged the woman -- described as articulate -- to

help the police and help ''these evil people get what they deserve''.

Saying the woman would get all the police protection she needed, Mrs

Bryce added: ''I would even sit there myself every minute of the day if

she would come forward. She must know the people of Craigneuk will make

sure that nothing will happen to her.''

Comforted by her son, Mr Neil Moore, and flanked by senior

investigating officers, Mrs Bryce said she knew people were scared to

come forward for fear of reprisals. ''People have been frightened of

these people for years and they have been getting away with it for

years,'' she said.

Mr Moore said his stepbrother had been an ''innocent boy'' simply

walking home from watching the Rangers football game with friends. He

asked anyone with even just a little information to volunteer it.

Mr Moore asked his neighbours to ''be brave and come from behind their

curtains and give the police the information they need''.

He added:''Come forward to the police, the police will protect you.

There's not really an awful lot of help for us but it will help the

people of Craigneuk. They should be able to walk up and down without

fear of something happening to them.'' Over the past few days the spirit

of Craigneuk has been evident with protest marches, vigils and the

mounting number of flowers placed outside the Bryce's terrace

overshadowed by the decaying edifice that was once Ravenscraig.

But until now the housing scheme's people have remained silent on the

events of last Thursday morning.

However, Detective Chief Inspector John McKelvie said yesterday that

Craigneuk's wall of silence was beginning to crumble. Police had

interviewed more than 500 people, including Mr Alan Murdoch. ''People

have been coming forward and I believe this is gathering momentum.''

Another officer, Superintendent Jim White, said the weekend's lapse in

public order -- when several arrests were made and a siege was laid to

the home of the Murdoch family -- had hampered the investigation because

officers had been removed from door-to-door inquiries. He applauded the

intention to protest at a vigil outside the Bryce family home every

evening at 6pm, saying it showed that the majority of the people in

Craigneuk were ''respectable''.