SteveH
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Okay. Hands up. When I woke up on the day I posted my three previous comments I had never heard of the murder of Alistair Wilson.
So today I skimmed through all the comments on this thread and found a lot of useful info and links.
A link to the article about the person of interest that Bleksley mentioned but wouldn't name (that I linked) was originally posted here in 2022 and the possible connection with Ayr was mentioned by one commenter. I also found the suspect named on various other sites such as comments on YouTube and Reddit. So I am by no means the first person to figure out who this is. It would seem it is common knowledge locally. But this info wasn't taken up by many Websleuths commenters or those on other forums.
This 2022 BBC TV report by Fiona Walker is required viewing for anyone interested in the case:
It has an interview with Veronica in which she states that she has to be careful what she says as she has information that other people might not know (from 14 mins 20 secs).
There is also an interesting section about Andy Burnet (he is also spelt Burnett in some articles). He told Sunday Times journalist David James Smith in 2005 that there was something a little off-key about the couple because they never opened their front door and kept their curtains closed. "It's like they've got something to hide". Fiona Walker suggests it might have been because pub customers were staring into their windows. Burnet also told the Sunday Times that he had been a focus of the police enquiry (from 15 mins 14 secs).
Walker also mentions the specific person of interest that Bleksley mentions in the recent video and whose identity anyone who knows anything about this case seems to know. She doesn't name him either but confirms he lived in Nairn at the time of the murder and worked for the emergency services. She states he is linked to Andy Burnet on social media. His neighbours said he was a regular at the Havelock and two of them mentioned that he kept guns in his house (from 19 mins 30 secs).
This is David James Smith's Sunday Times article from 2005: https://archive.is/bJJo9
In other comments I have read that apart from Veronica nobody saw the killer. But according to Smith "Two witnesses came forward to say they had seen two men talking on the doorstep of 10 Crescent Road around the time of the shooting." and he mentions two other very interesting sightings - not the bus/bus stop ones.
"The first was a woman driver on nearby Marine Road, which Crescent Road leads into, who had turned and looked at a pedestrian walking towards Crescent Road around 6.55 pm....she saw a stranger, a white man of stocky build wearing dark clothing and something over his head, perhaps a hood. He had a weathered, possibly European-type appearance. He was in his mid-thirties and had his hands in his pockets. The police called this a highly significant sighting. It could be the killer on the way to the killing."
"The other sighting was by an elderly couple walking on Marine Road, towards Crescent Road, when a man came running out of Crescent Road, nearly bowling them over as he passed them." There was a dispute between the couple as to the timing of this sighting."
Oddly Peter Bleksley in his book claims there were no witnesses. I am basing this on my reading of the free snippet you can read on Amazon. From the first paragraph of Chapter Three:
"It must have been hugely frustrating to the police that no living person apart from Veronica Wilson could testify to seeing the baseball-cap wearing gunman on Crescent Road."
What about the "Two witnesses [who] came forward to say they had seen two men talking on the doorstep of 10 Crescent Road around the time of the shooting" that Smith mentioned in his 2005 article? Very strange.
In his 2005 article Smith also mentions the decking dispute:
"Andy Burnet was briefly a suspect, when the police discovered that Alistair had complained about some decking Andy was putting in the car park of his pub, opposite 10 Crescent Road.
By chance, the council's letter informing Andy of Alistair's objection had been delivered to Andy the day before the killing. Friends called Andy from his former home in Guernsey to say the police had been there interviewing them, asking whether he ever got angry."
The above article is essential reading as it has a lot of detail not given elsewhere.
More info on the emergency worker suspect.
This article states that the suspect the police wanted to arrest may not have been the killer:
"Cops are understood to be building a case against a suspect who was jailed for an unrelated crime.
A source close to the probe told the paper: "There is a theory that this man, if not the person who pulled the trigger, could have supplied the weapon.
"The source added: "This man was also known for carrying knives. If he’s involved he knows the answers as to why Alistair was killed and who is behind it.""
www.thescottishsun.co.uk
This article mentions a link to a "Paul" - remember Bleksley said he was a relative of the suspect:
"The prime suspect in the 20-year unsolved murder of Nairn banker Alistair Wilson can be linked to a person whose name matches that on the envelope used to lure the victim to his death.
We told this year that police were set, in May last year, to arrest a suspect before the operation was aborted at the last moment, much to the distress of Mr Wilson’s family.
It can now be revealed that the suspect, who has still never been detained for questioning, can be closely linked to a man named Paul, which sources say adds possible weight to the case to detain him."
This article explains why the rozzers couldn't arrest the suspect:
"We told previously how police had planned to arrest a suspect in May last year so they could be detained for questioning.
However, the arrest was abandoned at the last moment, much to the distress of Mr Wilson’s family, leading to the inquiry hitting a complete impasse.
It can now be disclosed that prosecutors who assessed the latest police probe raised more than 150 ‘points of concern’ requiring potential follow-up action.
It meant senior Crown Office officials felt they had no option but to order a fresh investigation, involving an entirely new police team, in a move which has potentially set the hunt for the killer back years and caused huge distress to Mr Wilson’s family.
A source said: ‘There were more than 150 queries and points which raised concern and it indicated that a great deal of work still required to be carried out.’"
www.dailymail.co.uk
This article details the Wilson family's reaction to the collapse of the arrest plan:
"Mr Wilson’s family have declined to comment. However, a source close to them said: ‘Alistair’s family were left in a state of extreme distress at the way this was handled.
‘They are desperate for a breakthrough and thought it was coming. It is difficult to overstate the distress and disappointment they felt when it was scrapped at the last moment.
‘They are not naive and realise an arrest might only have been the beginning of a new stage in the inquiry, and that it didn’t mean charges would definitely follow.
‘However, they believed, and still do, that it would have helped move things forward and that it was absolutely necessary in order to formally question the suspect.
‘All they want is for the killer to be caught. To do that, they believe this man should have been arrested and questioned, in order that he is ruled out or otherwise.’"
www.dailymail.co.uk
This article indicates that Bleksley knew about the suspect in 2022:
"It was only two months ago that I spotted the headline which screamed 'Police have new man in sights over banker shooting.' This wasn't news to me because months earlier, in the summer, a number of trusted sources had passed this man's name to me, explaining how they'd been asked by detectives what they knew about him.
His identity was becoming the worst kept secret in Nairn."
www.pressreader.com
Meanwhile the clueless Prof David Wilson continues, against all the evidence, to insist that this was the work of a professional "Master" hitman. From a 2024 article:
"But on the latest anniversary of the assassination in Nairn, Inverness-shire, Scots criminologist Professor David Wilson slammed officers over their handling of the cold case.
He is adamant the killing was carried out by a professional hired to gun down the HBOS bank manager — meaning repeated public appeals for information are pointless.
Alistair, 30, had been set to leave his job for a role with a research and consultancy business when he was murdered, which Professor Wilson believes is key to solving the mystery."
"A leading criminologist has said there is nothing in the Alistair Wilson doorstep murder case that he has heard in the last few months that he has not known for five years.
David Wilson, professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, said the lack of eye-witness e-fits of the murderer, as well as lack of information on Mr Wilson’s banking connections leaves questions unanswered.
Professor Wilson told BBC Radio Scotland that everything recently released by police is more “PR” than criminal investigation."
This is the same guy who believes that Jill Dando was killed by a Serbian "Master" hitman.
David old nut. You don't know what you are talking about. As a previous commenter on this thread said, a criminologist is NOT a detective. Damn right!
In a ludicrously sensationalist piece another "amateur sleuth", Nate Campbell, teamed up with one Douglas Dickie to rubbish the current police investigation, insisting the "hit" was to do with Alistair's job at the bank.
"When a stranger rings your doorbell on a dark November night – envelope in one hand, gun in the other – you can be sure he has not popped round to sell you raffle tickets. The envelope is the carrot, the gun is the stick.
And when this malevolent doorstep presence shows up mere weeks before you are jacking in your job in banking, a job involving serious amounts of money-lending to corporate entities, then you can also be sure that the timing of the stranger’s visit is not coincidental."
Agree about the raffle tickets Nate. But your writing skills are abysmal and you don't understand the nature of coincidences.
"What a surprise, then, when senior detectives junketed off to Canada a few months ago to interview the hotel’s former owner who had subsequently emigrated to that corner of the world. Might that little street squabble over hotel decking in 2004 have been a catalyst for murder, after all?
Did he decide that killing the complainant would be an appropriate response to a tiny bureaucratic dispute over retrospective Planning permission? It is palpable nonsense and everyone knows it."
"Everyone" knows you are full of it Nate.
He does however talk about a scenario not too dissimilar to my own brief hypothesis as outlined in a previous comment:
"This background figure “Paul” clearly wants something from Alistair. That is why Alistair has been handed an empty envelope. He is expected to put something in it before it is returned to “Paul.” Documents? A cheque? Cash?...
But Alistair cannot, or will not, comply. The envelope remains empty. That is why he is executed. That is why the gunman did not kill him at the first sighting. It was the final opportunity for him to accede to the demands he was presented with that night by the unwelcome stranger on his doorstep."
It's just that Nate thinks it is to do with his job at the bank, like David Wilson.
Some mothers do 'ave 'em!
www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
So today I skimmed through all the comments on this thread and found a lot of useful info and links.
A link to the article about the person of interest that Bleksley mentioned but wouldn't name (that I linked) was originally posted here in 2022 and the possible connection with Ayr was mentioned by one commenter. I also found the suspect named on various other sites such as comments on YouTube and Reddit. So I am by no means the first person to figure out who this is. It would seem it is common knowledge locally. But this info wasn't taken up by many Websleuths commenters or those on other forums.
This 2022 BBC TV report by Fiona Walker is required viewing for anyone interested in the case:
It has an interview with Veronica in which she states that she has to be careful what she says as she has information that other people might not know (from 14 mins 20 secs).
There is also an interesting section about Andy Burnet (he is also spelt Burnett in some articles). He told Sunday Times journalist David James Smith in 2005 that there was something a little off-key about the couple because they never opened their front door and kept their curtains closed. "It's like they've got something to hide". Fiona Walker suggests it might have been because pub customers were staring into their windows. Burnet also told the Sunday Times that he had been a focus of the police enquiry (from 15 mins 14 secs).
Walker also mentions the specific person of interest that Bleksley mentions in the recent video and whose identity anyone who knows anything about this case seems to know. She doesn't name him either but confirms he lived in Nairn at the time of the murder and worked for the emergency services. She states he is linked to Andy Burnet on social media. His neighbours said he was a regular at the Havelock and two of them mentioned that he kept guns in his house (from 19 mins 30 secs).
This is David James Smith's Sunday Times article from 2005: https://archive.is/bJJo9
In other comments I have read that apart from Veronica nobody saw the killer. But according to Smith "Two witnesses came forward to say they had seen two men talking on the doorstep of 10 Crescent Road around the time of the shooting." and he mentions two other very interesting sightings - not the bus/bus stop ones.
"The first was a woman driver on nearby Marine Road, which Crescent Road leads into, who had turned and looked at a pedestrian walking towards Crescent Road around 6.55 pm....she saw a stranger, a white man of stocky build wearing dark clothing and something over his head, perhaps a hood. He had a weathered, possibly European-type appearance. He was in his mid-thirties and had his hands in his pockets. The police called this a highly significant sighting. It could be the killer on the way to the killing."
"The other sighting was by an elderly couple walking on Marine Road, towards Crescent Road, when a man came running out of Crescent Road, nearly bowling them over as he passed them." There was a dispute between the couple as to the timing of this sighting."
Oddly Peter Bleksley in his book claims there were no witnesses. I am basing this on my reading of the free snippet you can read on Amazon. From the first paragraph of Chapter Three:
"It must have been hugely frustrating to the police that no living person apart from Veronica Wilson could testify to seeing the baseball-cap wearing gunman on Crescent Road."
What about the "Two witnesses [who] came forward to say they had seen two men talking on the doorstep of 10 Crescent Road around the time of the shooting" that Smith mentioned in his 2005 article? Very strange.
In his 2005 article Smith also mentions the decking dispute:
"Andy Burnet was briefly a suspect, when the police discovered that Alistair had complained about some decking Andy was putting in the car park of his pub, opposite 10 Crescent Road.
By chance, the council's letter informing Andy of Alistair's objection had been delivered to Andy the day before the killing. Friends called Andy from his former home in Guernsey to say the police had been there interviewing them, asking whether he ever got angry."
The above article is essential reading as it has a lot of detail not given elsewhere.
More info on the emergency worker suspect.
This article states that the suspect the police wanted to arrest may not have been the killer:
"Cops are understood to be building a case against a suspect who was jailed for an unrelated crime.
A source close to the probe told the paper: "There is a theory that this man, if not the person who pulled the trigger, could have supplied the weapon.
"The source added: "This man was also known for carrying knives. If he’s involved he knows the answers as to why Alistair was killed and who is behind it.""
Murderops 'probing 999 worker' over killing of dad gunned down on doorstep
COPS probing the murder of a banker who was gunned down on his doorstep are investigating a 999 worker as a suspect in the death, sources claim. Alistair Wilson, 30, was shot to death outside his h…
www.thescottishsun.co.uk
This article mentions a link to a "Paul" - remember Bleksley said he was a relative of the suspect:
"The prime suspect in the 20-year unsolved murder of Nairn banker Alistair Wilson can be linked to a person whose name matches that on the envelope used to lure the victim to his death.
We told this year that police were set, in May last year, to arrest a suspect before the operation was aborted at the last moment, much to the distress of Mr Wilson’s family.
It can now be revealed that the suspect, who has still never been detained for questioning, can be closely linked to a man named Paul, which sources say adds possible weight to the case to detain him."
This article explains why the rozzers couldn't arrest the suspect:
"We told previously how police had planned to arrest a suspect in May last year so they could be detained for questioning.
However, the arrest was abandoned at the last moment, much to the distress of Mr Wilson’s family, leading to the inquiry hitting a complete impasse.
It can now be disclosed that prosecutors who assessed the latest police probe raised more than 150 ‘points of concern’ requiring potential follow-up action.
It meant senior Crown Office officials felt they had no option but to order a fresh investigation, involving an entirely new police team, in a move which has potentially set the hunt for the killer back years and caused huge distress to Mr Wilson’s family.
A source said: ‘There were more than 150 queries and points which raised concern and it indicated that a great deal of work still required to be carried out.’"
Nairn murder: Law chief ordered inquiry after '150 points of concern'
A reinvestigation of banker Alistair Wilson's murder was ordered after more than 150 'concerns' were highlighted in a review of the evidence gathered in the previous police inquiry.
This article details the Wilson family's reaction to the collapse of the arrest plan:
"Mr Wilson’s family have declined to comment. However, a source close to them said: ‘Alistair’s family were left in a state of extreme distress at the way this was handled.
‘They are desperate for a breakthrough and thought it was coming. It is difficult to overstate the distress and disappointment they felt when it was scrapped at the last moment.
‘They are not naive and realise an arrest might only have been the beginning of a new stage in the inquiry, and that it didn’t mean charges would definitely follow.
‘However, they believed, and still do, that it would have helped move things forward and that it was absolutely necessary in order to formally question the suspect.
‘All they want is for the killer to be caught. To do that, they believe this man should have been arrested and questioned, in order that he is ruled out or otherwise.’"
How police were set to arrest prime suspect in banker murder horror
Detectives were set to arrest a prime suspect in the 20-year unsolved murder of banker Alistair Wilson before the operation was scrapped at the last moment, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
This article indicates that Bleksley knew about the suspect in 2022:
"It was only two months ago that I spotted the headline which screamed 'Police have new man in sights over banker shooting.' This wasn't news to me because months earlier, in the summer, a number of trusted sources had passed this man's name to me, explaining how they'd been asked by detectives what they knew about him.
His identity was becoming the worst kept secret in Nairn."
PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions
Digital newsstand featuring 7000+ of the world’s most popular newspapers & magazines. Enjoy unlimited reading on up to 5 devices with 7-day free trial.
Meanwhile the clueless Prof David Wilson continues, against all the evidence, to insist that this was the work of a professional "Master" hitman. From a 2024 article:
"But on the latest anniversary of the assassination in Nairn, Inverness-shire, Scots criminologist Professor David Wilson slammed officers over their handling of the cold case.
He is adamant the killing was carried out by a professional hired to gun down the HBOS bank manager — meaning repeated public appeals for information are pointless.
Alistair, 30, had been set to leave his job for a role with a research and consultancy business when he was murdered, which Professor Wilson believes is key to solving the mystery."
"A leading criminologist has said there is nothing in the Alistair Wilson doorstep murder case that he has heard in the last few months that he has not known for five years.
David Wilson, professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, said the lack of eye-witness e-fits of the murderer, as well as lack of information on Mr Wilson’s banking connections leaves questions unanswered.
Professor Wilson told BBC Radio Scotland that everything recently released by police is more “PR” than criminal investigation."
This is the same guy who believes that Jill Dando was killed by a Serbian "Master" hitman.
David old nut. You don't know what you are talking about. As a previous commenter on this thread said, a criminologist is NOT a detective. Damn right!
In a ludicrously sensationalist piece another "amateur sleuth", Nate Campbell, teamed up with one Douglas Dickie to rubbish the current police investigation, insisting the "hit" was to do with Alistair's job at the bank.
"When a stranger rings your doorbell on a dark November night – envelope in one hand, gun in the other – you can be sure he has not popped round to sell you raffle tickets. The envelope is the carrot, the gun is the stick.
And when this malevolent doorstep presence shows up mere weeks before you are jacking in your job in banking, a job involving serious amounts of money-lending to corporate entities, then you can also be sure that the timing of the stranger’s visit is not coincidental."
Agree about the raffle tickets Nate. But your writing skills are abysmal and you don't understand the nature of coincidences.
"What a surprise, then, when senior detectives junketed off to Canada a few months ago to interview the hotel’s former owner who had subsequently emigrated to that corner of the world. Might that little street squabble over hotel decking in 2004 have been a catalyst for murder, after all?
Did he decide that killing the complainant would be an appropriate response to a tiny bureaucratic dispute over retrospective Planning permission? It is palpable nonsense and everyone knows it."
"Everyone" knows you are full of it Nate.
He does however talk about a scenario not too dissimilar to my own brief hypothesis as outlined in a previous comment:
"This background figure “Paul” clearly wants something from Alistair. That is why Alistair has been handed an empty envelope. He is expected to put something in it before it is returned to “Paul.” Documents? A cheque? Cash?...
But Alistair cannot, or will not, comply. The envelope remains empty. That is why he is executed. That is why the gunman did not kill him at the first sighting. It was the final opportunity for him to accede to the demands he was presented with that night by the unwelcome stranger on his doorstep."
It's just that Nate thinks it is to do with his job at the bank, like David Wilson.
Some mothers do 'ave 'em!
Alistair Wilson murder MUST have been linked to his job, claims crime author
November 28 will mark 18 years to the day since Nairn banker Alistair Wilson was gunned down on his own doorstep. The crime remains unsolved. Author and cold case expert Nate Campbell claims there are more questions than answers in what is one of Scotland’s most baffling and long-running murder...
