UK UK - Alistair Wilson, 30, murdered at home, Nairn, Scotland, 28 Nov 2004

[alb1on]

The comments made over the last couple of days are interesting but if this was just the work of a disgruntled local one question needs to be answered; how did he get hold of the weapon? The gun may be a war relic but even then it is surprising that it just happens to be in the possession of a local. However, since the police have confirmed the ammunition used was not made until the 80s or 90s it is far harder to explain how a local without deep criminal connections got hold of it, as possession became a serious offence in 1997. A man who was keeping a gun as a war relic would not usually look to source modern ammunition for it, either before or after 1997 and would have needed some very dodgy connections to do so at the time of the murder.
I take no view on the likely explanation for this case but the above question would drive a coach and horses through any prosecution unless it could be explained.

 

[Cedars]

What's even odder to me is that going by the recorded events of that night so far, the killer had no expectation of getting the envelope back anyway. At least not that night.

I agree, which is what strongly suggests to me that the killer believed AW would recognize the meaning of the envelope and know what to do with it. He was expecting/waiting for AW to return. I suggest that it was because he expected AW to come back with something in the envelope.

For example, you are new to the country, a person arrives on your doorstep carrying a package and hands you a clipboard, perhaps pointing to a spot on the clipboard. You have no idea what's going on, you show the clipboard to your wife, she doesn't understand, you open the door and he's still there, and hand it back in complete confusion, the UPS driver leaves with the package writing on it "refused by occupant". Fortunately, he doesn't kill you because he isn't part of organized crime.

JMO

 

[davidt]

Its a very curious situation. If Veronica's account is accurate and in turn if Alastair was truthful to her then the following supposedly happened.

After spending some minutes talking on the doorstep AW returns inside with the envelope. Veronica says he was bewildered and puzzled but not frightened. He also asked her if the caller definitely wanted him. She replies saying yes, he asked for you by name,. At this point it appears AW has little idea what is going on.

The pair discuss things and then AW of his own volition decides he's going back outside to see if the person may still be there. I find that very odd and even odder the person who had apparently already concluded his business with AW was still there. It's important as it suggests there was never any intention for AW to return to the doorstep and its was just something he did on the spur of the moment. Presumably in an attempt to clear things up. It would make much more sense if it was always the idea for him to go back and that the caller had every reason to expect him to return. But that's not what is said to have happened. There's a couple of possibilities here. Perhaps Veronica misunderstood her husband or perhaps he wasn't truthful to her.

If he was always expected to return to the doorstep that opens up further questions. Once AW returned inside anything could have happened. He could just have stayed there, or rung the police and even if he did return what's to say he'd have the envelope with him. Basically how could the caller be confident Alastair would do what he wanted?

This scenario also to me raises problems with the decking dispute being behind this. If AW was as confused as Veronica says and wasn't even sure the caller had the right person it really confuses things. That's because if this person was there about the decking AW would clearly know what it was about and why he was being spoken to. He may not have known exactly what he was supposed to do but would know what it was about. In turn it would mean the police would know the motive from day one but they didn't. Instead they spent ages trying to find a motive trawling through everything in their lives before in more recent times concentrating on the decking.

Caveats: there are two caveats to this.

Firstly just about everything we know about that night comes from one unverified, uncorrobated source, Veronica. That in turn relies to a vast degree on whatever Alastair told her. She didn't witness things first hand. So there's great scope for inaccuracies and the possibility AW in turn didn't tell her the whole truth.

Secondly the details of the conversation between Veronica and Alastair have always been withheld by the police. Alastair clearly would have told Veronica various things which presumably she relayed to the police. Those details understandably being withheld for operational reasons may well throw more lights on things,

 

[Eastend Eagle]

What's even odder to me is that going by the recorded events of that night so far, the killer had no expectation of getting the envelope back anyway. At least not that night.

Maybe the point of getting AW to show his wife the envelope was that she would see the name on it JMO

 

[rvlvr]

He didn't offer any ruses or excuses like, I'm collecting on behalf of this, or I'm here to pick up that...he behaved as though this was a completely straightforward transaction. IMO, he expected AW to know what the envelope meant, and didn't shoot until AW came back with nothing in it. He wasn't interested in the possibility AW was confused - meaning, IMO, he was very sure that AW did know what the envelope meant.

The issue is though, we know very little about Alistair’s interactions with this man. Everything we do know about Alistair’s killer and the envelope comes from Veronica and she wasn’t party to anything the two men discussed. We know that she said Alistair “was just a bit bewildered as to what the gentleman had said, because the envelope wasn't addressed to him”, but we don’t know he was being truthful when he said that to her, and of course we only have Veronica’s word that he did indeed say those things, or that the envelope even existed.

I think this is why it might be beneficial to disregard the envelope, and just focus on what we know for certain - that Alistair was shot dead on his doorstep by a white male, with a Haenel Schmeisser handgun, which was found just a few miles from the Wilsons’ home, suggesting that the killer was local - a belief that was reinforced when an exact replica of the gun was handed in to police following a house clearance in Nairn.

I suspect this is what police have been doing in recent years - putting the things they can’t make sense of to one side, and simply concentrating on joining those dots. Perhaps their theory regarding the motive - the dispute with the pub - will turn out to be wrong but I’ve long believed they think residents of the town, possibly regular/ex-regular drinkers in the Havelock, know who did this and putting the squeeze on them may eventually bear fruit.

 

[rvlvr]

The comments made over the last couple of days are interesting but if this was just the work of a disgruntled local one question needs to be answered; how did he get hold of the weapon? The gun may be a war relic but even then it is surprising that it just happens to be in the possession of a local. However, since the police have confirmed the ammunition used was not made until the 80s or 90s it is far harder to explain how a local without deep criminal connections got hold of it, as possession became a serious offence in 1997. A man who was keeping a gun as a war relic would not usually look to source modern ammunition for it, either before or after 1997 and would have needed some very dodgy connections to do so at the time of the murder.

It’s surprising but two Haenel Schmeissers existing in the same seaside Scottish town (according to the BBC, only 13 of these guns were recovered in the whole of the UK between 2008 and 2017) along with a Melior Brevets handgun which was handed in to police in May 2016 suggests there were a fair few of these weapons kicking about the place, so perhaps not *that* strange.

Police reveal new information in relation to murder of Alistair Wilson

Alistair Wilson was killed in Nairn on Sunday, November 28, 2004. He was shot on his doorstep in Crescent Road at around 7pm.

www.northern-times.co.uk

Perhaps the gun used to kill Alistair was fired quite regularly - Nairn’s an isolated place, the beaches up there are pretty sparsely populated most of the year I’d imagine - so that necessitated the purchasing of newer bullets.

 

[rvlvr]

Alistair was shot dead on his doorstep by a white male, with a Haenel Schmeisser handgun, which was found just a few miles from the Wilsons’ home

Couldn’t edit my post in time to correct this, it was actually found about half a mile from the murder scene, on Seabank Road:

New image of gun used to kill Nairn banker Alistair Wilson

Police release a new image of the gun used in the nine-year-old unsolved murder of Nairn banker Alistair Wilson.

www.bbc.com

It’s difficult to imagine anyone linked to gangs in Glasgow for instance coming to Nairn to shoot Alistair with a ‘pocket pistol’ then dropping it in a drain just down the road from his house, I think this almost certainly means the killer was not particularly smart (inebriated?) and local.

 

[alb1on]

It’s surprising but two Haenel Schmeissers existing in the same seaside Scottish town (according to the BBC, only 13 of these guns were recovered in the whole of the UK between 2008 and 2017) along with a Melior Brevets handgun which was handed in to police in May 2016 suggests there were a fair few of these weapons kicking about the place, so perhaps not *that* strange.

Police reveal new information in relation to murder of Alistair Wilson

Alistair Wilson was killed in Nairn on Sunday, November 28, 2004. He was shot on his doorstep in Crescent Road at around 7pm.

www.northern-times.co.uk

Perhaps the gun used to kill Alistair was fired quite regularly - Nairn’s an isolated place, the beaches up there are pretty sparsely populated most of the year I’d imagine - so that necessitated the purchasing of newer bullets.

The gun is surprising but possible. The ammunition is a different matter. If it was fired regularly it would be necessary to buy regular supplies of information. That was illegal for 6 years before the murder and the law was strictly enforced. You could not just go into a gun specialist and order a new supply. The only source was from very serious criminals.

 

[CSIAngus]

The 'antique' gun and modern ammunition combination suggests organised crime to me, and not some local lone actor. If the former, then there had to be a conspiracy involving others.

The 0.25 calibre ammunition was made by Sellier and Bellot in the Czech Republic, manufactured between 1983 and 1993, and it was legal then and still is to acquire this ammunition if you have a Firearms Certificate and a valid reason. Possession of the ammunition is strictly regulated, which at the very least suggests either black market acquisition or the killer himself had an FC. I doubt the latter, but who knows. I have a feeling that this case will never be solved.

 

[Cedars]

It’s difficult to imagine anyone linked to gangs in Glasgow for instance coming to Nairn to shoot Alistair with a ‘pocket pistol’ then dropping it in a drain just down the road from his house, I think this almost certainly means the killer was not particularly smart (inebriated?) and local.

It certainly indicates the killer had no sentimental attachment to the gun, or intended to ever use it again. I don't know what gangs would normally do or don't do. It seems like a compromise, to avoid being caught with the 'smoking gun', vs leaving it at the scene. Evidently it yielded no fingerprints or DNA, which seems to me unusual.

 

[davidt]

The issue is though, we know very little about Alistair’s interactions with this man. Everything we do know about Alistair’s killer and the envelope comes from Veronica and she wasn’t party to anything the two men discussed. We know that she said Alistair “was just a bit bewildered as to what the gentleman had said, because the envelope wasn't addressed to him”, but we don’t know he was being truthful when he said that to her, and of course we only have Veronica’s word that he did indeed say those things, or that the envelope even existed.

I think this is why it might be beneficial to disregard the envelope, and just focus on what we know for certain - that Alistair was shot dead on his doorstep by a white male, with a Haenel Schmeisser handgun, which was found just a few miles from the Wilsons’ home, suggesting that the killer was local - a belief that was reinforced when an exact replica of the gun was handed in to police following a house clearance in Nairn.

I suspect this is what police have been doing in recent years - putting the things they can’t make sense of to one side, and simply concentrating on joining those dots. Perhaps their theory regarding the motive - the dispute with the pub - will turn out to be wrong but I’ve long believed they think residents of the town, possibly regular/ex-regular drinkers in the Havelock, know who did this and putting the squeeze on them may eventually bear fruit.

Agreed and this is what I have said many times. We're utterly reliant on one second hand account of what happened. And nothing at all in respect of the second conversation and shooting.

The elephant in the toom for me is the conversation between Alastair and Veronica. What exactly did they talk about and discuss? When AW returned inside from his first doorstep conversation he must have told Veronica something about what was going on. We know the police originally did not know what the motive was and spent extensive time combing through all of Alastairs and family's private and professional lives looking for a reason and not finding anything. This can only mean that Veronica's account did not contain anything specific.

Alastair talked to his killer for several minutes initially. Yet he did not tell Veronica anything useful. If this person turned up about the decking for example, Alastair would be fully aware what it was about. So for me either Alastair wasn't being straight with Veronica or perhaps the caller was totally incomprehensible. I'm sure Veronica would have asked Alastair who the caller was and what he wanted. If Alastair had said anything about the decking or anything else the police would know the motive straightaway but crucially they didn't have a clue at that stage. If Veronica's account is accurate and in turn Alastair was honest with her then then the caller must have been totally incomprehensible with Alastair having no idea at all what was going on.

 

[rvlvr]

Agree with all of your points, @davidt - Veronica doesn’t hear or see anything that takes place once Alistair goes back downstairs. Can we even be sure he went back to the door immediately? Perhaps he went to one of the front rooms and looked through a window first? Perhaps he half expected to see the man ambling off towards the pub. Perhaps he went to retrieve some money, cobbled together any he had in the house, taking a minute or two to do so, stuffed the cash in the envelope and then returned to the door? He hands it over, tells the man in no uncertain terms to leave and never return, which enrages an easily triggered individual, who shoots him.

The second interaction between the men could’ve lasted seconds rather than minutes, particularly as Veronica was preoccupied with putting the children to bed - I’m not sure her sense of time can be considered completely accurate. Also, much of the conversation the two men initially had could’ve perhaps been about the inconvenience the doorstep caller was causing Alistair - “it’s Sunday night pal, I’m putting the kids to bed, you’re drunk, go home”, etc etc.

Ultimately only two people know what was discussed - one is dead and the other unidentified. And only Veronica witnessed the envelope. The envelope is intriguing and a really interesting discussion point but in some ways it’s odd that it seems to dominate minds when police actually have the murder weapon - this is surely, imo, a better pointer to who the killer was and what his intentions were.

Would an assassin use a gun like this? Or is it more likely that a war relic was the only type of gun that an amateur could easily access? What sort of person would’ve disposed of the gun so close to the scene? Who could’ve walked up to the Wilsons’ door and slipped away again largely unnoticed? Where do men of the killer’s age like to hang out? Perhaps in the sort of environment where you might encounter a tight-knit and tight-lipped group of people reluctant to ‘grass’?

 

[SteveH]

<modsnip: Publicly discussing removed posts or moderation is a violation of The Rules >

An article in the Daily Record reveals that a "Paul" is the police suspect's uncle.

"Former undercover cop and star of Channel Four's hit show Hunted has launched a scathing attack on the police's handling of their investigation into the murder of banker Alistair Wilson...,

[Peter] Bleksley is inviting detectives to come along to hear what he has to say during the 106 date nationwide tour which includes performances in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. In the show - The Makings of a Murderer - Bleksley will also be revealing details of who he thinks is the prime suspect. He believes he is a local Nairn man now in his 40's who is said to have access to firearms and served a recent prison sentence for drug offences.

Bleksley added: "I have uncovered that he has a previous conviction for possessing an offensive weapon. He has other criminal convictions and has family that lives in Spain.

"He has an uncle called Paul and I have been trying to get in front of him for some time without any luck.

"If I were leading the murder inquiry this person would be of considerable interest.

"I will be revealing a lot of new information about the police investigation and explaining why that particular individual is the person responsible.

"I will hope that officers from Police Scotland will be sitting in the audience with notebooks and pens."

Ex-cop Peter Bleksley slams police over unsolved murder of Scot Alistair Wilson

The police investigation into the murder of Nairn banker Alistair Wilson more than 20 years ago has been criticised by former detective turned TV presenter Peter Bleksley.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

I know the name of the suspect and any eagle-eyed reader of the comments in this thread will find his name and a few details about him. I am not sure if he is the bloke in Ayr who was jailed for domestic violence offences in 2009 (although he was of the right age) but he is certainly the guy who moved to Aberdeen from Nairn..

I had been contacted on another site by someone who claims to have known the suspect. He seems pretty genuine but he didn't get back to me when pressed for more info. FWIW he told me that he knew the suspect until about 2011 and that the bloke had said "something alarming" to his brother about why he always had loads of cash. He also said this man used to steal from ambulances, and that he had been in his house and "can state beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had access to multiple illegal firearms and they were not secured at all."

He had tried to contact Peter Bleksley but to no avail. He also said that "where the gun was found makes practically ZERO sense, at all, especially if you know the area...I have one idea of why it was found there but I cant prove it with out knowing something about the suspect's father who I believe has long since passed away." He also confirmed that the suspect was a Havelock regular and was friends with Andy Burnet.

Regarding the suspect's father:

"[Peter] Bleksley said: “I was told that the father was sitting on a bench and was very distressed and a person approached him and said, ‘What is wrong, can I help, why are you so upset?’

“It was then he said to this person, ‘I cannot believe that I have raised a son who would do such a thing.’

Bleksley said the police must investigate this new lead as sources suggest other people living in the town may be aware of the incident.

The retired former officer, who has taken a keen interest in the case, also claims to know the identity of the Alistair’s killer and said the man on the bench may have died a number of years ago.

The son, now thought to be in his early 40’s, was recently released from prison after serving an unrelated sentence for drug offences and is believed to have gone to ground."

New Alistair Wilson murder evidence emerges days before 20th anniversary

The Sunday Mail can reveal a distressed man seen sitting on a bench in the seaside town could hold the key to finally bringing Alistair’s killer to justice.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Regarding the drain where the gun was found:

"The murder weapon was found by chance during work to clear a drain half a mile away.

Then-Provost Sandy Park, 79, recalled: “The drain had been choked for over a year.

“Maybe this was someone with a bit of local knowledge. They knew it had been blocked and the gun wouldn’t be found.”

I saw Alistair Wilson's 'assassin' moments before he gunned banker down

A PENSIONER has recalled locking eyes with a “shifty” bus passenger he believes shot banker Alistair Wilson dead on his own doorstep — as cops continue to hope for a breakthrough on the murder ridd…

www.thesun.co.uk

Make of it all what you will. I agree with other contributors concerning the info we have about the incident coming solely from Veronica, but I can't think of any motive for her lying about it (or for her having some involvement in the crime for that matter). She has said she knows a lot more about the crime than has been publicly revealed, but she was tightly controlled by the police - when she spoke to Fiona Walker in 2018 there were five officers in the room! In the BBC podcast The Doorstep Murder Fiona asked the the former (2018) lead detective if there was anything other than Paul written on the envelope and he said he wouldn't divulge any further details, which might imply that there was something else to a suspicious mind like mine.

Perhaps now the family have lost faith in Police Scotland they will feel more free to discuss certain details.

Alistair' son Andrew says he feels betrayed by the force:

"Twenty years on, Andrew has told how he feels let down by police, who made an 11th-hour decision to stop the planned arrest of a potential suspect on May 15, 2023.

Speaking to the Press and Journal, he said: “I feel betrayed by the establishment that’s there to uphold justice. I have zero faith in Police Scotland. How can we trust anyone if we can’t even trust the police?”

It comes after Alistair's family said earlier this year that they had "lost confidence" in police. Veronica and Andrew labelled police "incompetent" and their relationship had "steadily deteriorated" in the past 18 months due to unresolved issues not being addressed."

Son of Nairn banker still has 'nightmares' about dad being shot on doorstep

Andrew Wilson saw his father lying in a pool of blood after he was shot on the doorstep of the family home in the Highland town.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

From a September 2024 article:

"Police Scotland’s chief constable has been accused of leaving the grieving family of the banker Alistair Wilson ‘in the dark’ over the reinvestigation into his murder.

Jo Farrell left Mr Wilson’s family ‘baffled’ after making misleading claims that a new senior investigating officer (SIO) appointed to lead the inquiry was ‘working now’ when they are in fact on holiday abroad.

They have branded her ‘callous’ for refusing to meet them and also criticised her for ‘insulting’ them and ‘basking in the media spotlight’ while the case remains unsolved nearly 20 years on...

The Wilsons publicly criticised the force’s incompetence at the weekend and Ms Farrell responded by telling a TV interviewer on Monday: ‘There is a new SIO and team working now in relation to that investigation.’

In a separate interview, she said: ‘We have always been committed to this investigation but the family’s views in relation to us are not positive...

Mrs Wilson said: ‘On Tuesday, we contacted our existing family liaison officer, who told us their replacements have not yet been appointed.

‘Jo Farrell was further contradicted when the family liaison officer told us that, although a new SIO had been identified, they were actually abroad on holiday the day after the chief constable said ‘a new SIO and team’ were “working now”.

‘Astonishingly, we were also informed nobody will be back at work until next week.

‘We are baffled as to how the Chief Constable can claim that “a new SIO and team” is “working now”.’

Her 24-year-old son, who was four when his father was murdered, added: ‘It remains a mystery to us, and we question why our family is still being kept in the dark.

‘Meanwhile, Jo Farrell is basking in the media spotlight as she talks of building bridges and providing confidence to our family.

‘We don’t know whether Jo Farrell has been confused or perhaps even caught in a lie, but she has certainly failed to reassure us that she has a grip on this worsening situation.’

So what IS truth about probe into banker Alistair Wilson's murder?

Police Scotland's chief constable has been accused of leaving the grieving family of banker Alistair Wilson 'in the dark' over the reinvestigation into his murder.

www.dailymail.co.uk

See also:

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/13584036/alistair-wilson-murder-jo-farrell-police-scotland/page/374/

MSN

 

[alb1on]

The 'antique' gun and modern ammunition combination suggests organised crime to me, and not some local lone actor. If the former, then there had to be a conspiracy involving others.

The 0.25 calibre ammunition was made by Sellier and Bellot in the Czech Republic, manufactured between 1983 and 1993, and it was legal then and still is to acquire this ammunition if you have a Firearms Certificate and a valid reason. Possession of the ammunition is strictly regulated, which at the very least suggests either black market acquisition or the killer himself had an FC. I doubt the latter, but who knows. I have a feeling that this case will never be solved.

I agree. Not only is possession of the ammunition strictly regulated but legitimate purchase of ammunition for weapons requiring a firearms certificate, as opposed to shotguns, is also recorded and available to police as part of the licensing system. So it would be very easy for the police to identify any legitimate local purchaser of ammunition for the firearm used (or even purchasers further afield). That they obviously have got nowhere down this route makes it almost certain the ammunition was sourced illegally. I have also seen suggestions that it could be legitimately purchased for rifle use but there are 2 objections to this. Firstly, my understand is (and I would welcome answers from those with more expertise) that the ammunition used by this pistol is not compatible with rifles, at least without rechambering. Secondly, even if it does have multi use legitimate purchase would surely have been subject to police investigation.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

The murderer might have known someone who could get the ammunition legitimately and who would let him have some.

 

[alb1on]

The murderer might have known someone who could get the ammunition legitimately and who would let him have some.

Unless someone can confirm the ammunition could also be used in rifles it could simply not be bought legitimately in the UK except under vanishingly rare circumstances.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Unless someone can confirm the ammunition could also be used in rifles it could simply not be bought legitimately in the UK except under vanishingly rare circumstances.

I am pretty sure that .25 rifle ammunition cannot be used in a pistol.

 

[SteveH]

"Dr Mohammed Rahman, lecturer in criminology at Birmingham City University, who has analysed the case, said he believes the gunman was a professional. And he likened the unsolved case to that of tv presenter Jill Dando, who was also killed on her doorstep, in Fulham, London, five years earlier."

Rahman spoke to Fiona Wilson on The Doorstep Murder podcast in 2018.

Well, he doesn't seem to me to have much of a clue:

"“From what we know, the hitman left no forensic evidence at the crime scene. The fact that he left no evidence in an open environment which he had limited control over demonstrates his advanced awareness levels of forensic science.""

No. The scene was heavily compromised by people trying to help Alistair including Andy Burnet, who replaced his watch on his wrist when it slipped off. Alistair was still conscious when Lynsey Gardner reached the scene - she had been in the Havelock. Wife Veronica was told to put blankets over Alistair. Peter Bleksley is scathing about the police's failure to stop this interference in a crime scene. Similarly in the Jill Dando case the forensic evidence was heavily compromised by paramedics who tried to revive Jill even though witnesses said it was readily apparent she was dead.

""For me it also demonstrates his competency. A lot of people have said, ‘well, if this guy is a professional assassin, then why on earth would he kill his target at the door? Well, in fact a killing at the doorstep of the target is one of the hallmarks of a master hitman.

“No-one would ever think about being killed on their own doorstep. It’s a place of security, which means that in most cases the house owner is relaxed, their guard is down and invariably vulnerable to harm.""

Fiona Walker asked him why the hitman didn't kill him the minute he came to the door. He completely ducked the question.

"Dr Rahman said he believes the envelope given to Mr Wilson was symbolic, and the name Paul was intended to be circulated in the media to send a message to others.

He said: “Whoever commissioned the hit would know that the envelope would be mentioned in the media and therefore it could have been used to send out a subliminal message to any wider connections to Alistair’s case.""

This sounds like second rate cultural studies/semiotics/psychology to me. I studied social anthropology to a postgraduate level and this sort of thing would have been laughed at quite frankly. I would posit Rahman briefly looked at this case with loads of preconceptions, ignored the bits of evidence that didn't fit his "theory" and ended up with some bland generalisations. Subliminal messages indeed. In a liminal space, the doorstep too! You couldn't make it up.

Hardly comparable to the great work done by Stuart Hall (not that one) et al at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham from the mid '60s to the turn of the century. They virtually invented the subject.

David Wilson is Emeritus Professor at the same institution as Rahman, Birmingham City University. Rahman himself is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences. I have been savaged for criticising and harping on about Prof Wilson, but it's hard to avoid the man. He was on This Morning with Holly and Phil pontificating about some case or other every week. Then there's all those staged docs with Mils. Almost unwatchable in my opinion.

Above quotes from: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/f.../1486034/an-assassin-who-may-never-be-caught/

<modsnip: Cannan is not the subject of this thread dedicated to discussion of the Alistair Wilson murder case>

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I am always puzzled by professor Wilson's claims about hit-men. Mark Williams-Thomas (a former Detective Constable and family liaison officer) with a MA in criminology from Birmingham City University, also claims that Jill Dando was killed by a hit-man. In both cases, the hit-man seems to have toddled off on foot.

Possibly, someone was paid to kill AW, but I doubt that he was a master hit-man.

 

[davidt]

Agree with all of your points, @davidt - Veronica doesn’t hear or see anything that takes place once Alistair goes back downstairs. Can we even be sure he went back to the door immediately? Perhaps he went to one of the front rooms and looked through a window first? Perhaps he half expected to see the man ambling off towards the pub. Perhaps he went to retrieve some money, cobbled together any he had in the house, taking a minute or two to do so, stuffed the cash in the envelope and then returned to the door? He hands it over, tells the man in no uncertain terms to leave and never return, which enrages an easily triggered individual, who shoots him.

The second interaction between the men could’ve lasted seconds rather than minutes, particularly as Veronica was preoccupied with putting the children to bed - I’m not sure her sense of time can be considered completely accurate. Also, much of the conversation the two men initially had could’ve perhaps been about the inconvenience the doorstep caller was causing Alistair - “it’s Sunday night pal, I’m putting the kids to bed, you’re drunk, go home”, etc etc.

Ultimately only two people know what was discussed - one is dead and the other unidentified. And only Veronica witnessed the envelope. The envelope is intriguing and a really interesting discussion point but in some ways it’s odd that it seems to dominate minds when police actually have the murder weapon - this is surely, imo, a better pointer to who the killer was and what his intentions were.

Would an assassin use a gun like this? Or is it more likely that a war relic was the only type of gun that an amateur could easily access? What sort of person would’ve disposed of the gun so close to the scene? Who could’ve walked up to the Wilsons’ door and slipped away again largely unnoticed? Where do men of the killer’s age like to hang out? Perhaps in the sort of environment where you might encounter a tight-knit and tight-lipped group of people reluctant to ‘grass’?

Yes the timeline is certainly questionable. It's not as though anyone was timing it after all. I wonder how long Veronica and Alastair spent discussing things. Whatever was said obviously did not include anything giving a specific motive. If the caller had turned up and started ranting about the decking or a banking transaction etc. Alastair would surely have relayed that information. Either Alastair was totally confused and had no idea at all what was going on or he was holding back from Veronica.

Anything specific would would have immediately provided the motive but as we know it didn't. It's an unusual case in that it's not often a victim has the opportunity to tell someone exactly what's going on before they are killed. Yet Alastair didn't do that. The police have spent years trying to find a motive. We don't know what tone the original conversation took but it certainly doesn't look like it was anything that scared Alastair as he wasn't bothered about going outside again. It's a case full of puzzles and contradictions.

The envelope plays in to this as it could be vitally important or could be completely irrelevant.