Eddie Carroll

The Sins of the Father Eddie Carroll

HIS new novel has just hit the shelves and, as he quaffs pink champagne by his poolside, it looks like life could not get any rosier for Jimmy Boyle.

Basking in his French utopia on the Cote d'Azur, the convicted killer could be forgiven for forgetting his humble Gorbals roots - but for the fact his daughter Patricia still lives there.

Patricia and her older brother James were the product of Boyle's relationship with Margaret Kinnear, his common- law wife in the 60s, .

While Boyle may be able to run a Rolls-Royce and two salubrious homes on the millions he has raked in since his rehabilitation, life is less glamorous for his 31- year-old daughter and his two grandchildren.

Her two-bedroomed council flat on the edges of her father's former stomping ground is in sharp contrast to Boyle's 12-bedroomed home in Edinburgh and his villa in the south of France.

At Boyle's French home, which boasts seven balconies, he can look down on his own exotic gardens where he throws champagne receptions during the Cannes Film Festival.

The event is a prime opportunity for him to show clients around the sunlit studio housing his sculptures, which sell for up to pounds 22,000 a piece. Last year, he sold seven sculptures alone worth pounds 8000 each and is currently discussing a film dealfor his new novel Hero Of The Underworld.

Patricia is not invited to her father's expensive soirees.

She said: "I have never even tasted champagne, never mind by a poolside.