Latest news with #ShamsuddinMahmood
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Daily Mail
How a coldblooded restaurant murder of a popular waiter left a once-peaceful island community living in fear
The aroma of exotic spices wafting from the kitchen blended with the animated chatter of diners as they tucked into their meals at the Mumutaz Tandoori restaurant on a warm June evening in 1994. Thursdays were always busy at the only Indian restaurant in Orkney, tucked away down a side street in Kirkwall where couples and families would meet for a catch-up and a curry. But shortly after 7pm, the air of calm conviviality was shattered by an act of terrifying violence, the repercussions of which are still being felt today – not least by those who witnessed it. Among them, a teenager called Emma was being treated to dinner out with her parents. Speaking for the first time about that fateful night in a new Prime Video documentary, Emma, now in her 40s, recalls: 'I was 13 when it happened. My parents at the time worked in Kirkwall so we had arranged to meet for tea. We liked the restaurant; it was dad's favourite. In those days I used to have a masala.' Her memories of what happened next are vivid but fractured. Sitting at a table by the window, she thought the person was collecting a takeaway: 'They were quite well-built and they had a sort of purposeful march on them. I couldn't see who it was because they had their face covered. I remember it was a handgun and then there was a 'pop'.' She adds: 'I knew something bad had happened, I knew something had happened to the waiter but my brain I don't think wanted to believe it.' The waiter, Shamsuddin Mahmood, had no time to utter even a greeting before the masked stranger aimed a 9mm pistol at his head and fired a single, fatal shot at point-blank range before turning on his heels and slipping away into the midsummer light. In an instant, panic and fear gripped the room. For Emma, that fear has never left her, that single moment of horror triggering in her years of all-consuming anxiety. Now, more than 30 years later, she tells the makers of The Orkney Assassin: Murder In The Isles: 'The night it happened, it took the world from being a very safe place, an idyllic place, to a very frightening place where bad things happened, terrible things happened to people.' She adds: 'People were telling me to enjoy every moment of my day because I was lucky to be alive. But I started getting quite frightened. I had panic attacks and I remember a car went past me and they had the window open and I was frightened quite irrationally that somebody could shoot me through the window. Everything was acutely frightening.' Looking at a photograph of Mr Mahmood, she says: 'I remember he had a big smile in real life. He was really friendly and kind. I've never been able to make sense of what happened that night, but especially the cold-hearted nature of it. 'There was no hesitation. Shamsuddin was killed. Why did that happen?' Emma was far from the only person struggling to piece together this unfathomable shooting. How could anyone commit such an outrageous murder – the first on Orkney's islands for a quarter century – in such a public manner and then simply vanish like a ghost? The case became infamous, not least because of its tortuous route to justice, but also because of the astonishing truth of the killer's identity. In 2008, at the end of an extraordinary 14-year murder inquiry that gripped the intricately woven Orkney community, and at times threatened to tear it apart, a decorated Black Watch soldier and member of a well-known local family, was convicted of Mr Mahmood's murder. Michael Ross was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in jail, yet over the years questions have been raised over his conviction. Evidence was circumstantial; descriptions of the killer suggested he was taller than Ross's 5ft 7ins. Most controversially, Ross was only 15 years old at the time of the killing – just two years older than Emma. It led some to dub him 'the schoolboy assassin', others to protest that no child could possibly be responsible for such a professional contract-style killing. While there were claims Ross, now 46, had no motive, prosecutors suggested he had been heard around that time to say 'blacks should be shot and have a gun put to their head'. Now decades on, the documentary explores the devastating impact this astonishing story has had not only on individuals like Emma, but on the entire community of Orkney – examining why it took so long for the killer to be unmasked in court and why there are still those who are convinced Michael Ross is the unfortunate victim of a miscarriage of justice. The 90-minute programme touches on how a local wall of silence, the toxic whiff of racism and the criminal interference of Ross's own policeman father contrived to turn what might have been a relatively straightforward murder hunt into one of the longest in Scottish criminal history. And while Ross lost an appeal in 2012, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission ruled two years later that there was not enough evidence to support another, a local campaign group based in Orkney continues to protest Ross's innocence and work tirelessly for his release. They include his parents, who have stood loyally by him down the years. In one dramatic moment, Ross's mother Moira remembers confronting her teenage son after he was first interviewed by police weeks after the killing. 'He went up to his room and sat there, and I did go up and ask him.' she says. 'I said: 'Did you shoot that man?' And he said: 'No'. I just can't get over the look on his face when I asked him,' she adds, breaking down in tears. Mr Mahmood, an economics graduate from Bangladesh, was on his second stint working at the Mumtaz. The 26-year-old had spent nine months in Orkney in 1993 and planned to work the summer season before returning to Bangladesh to marry his fiancée, a medical student. One of 11 children, his older brother, barrister Abul Shafiuddin, said he had no enemies and was a kind-hearted man. His seemingly motiveless killing on June 2, 1994, not only stunned the small, insular and peaceable Orkney community, but sent shockwaves rippling out across the world. Extra police were drafted in to lock down the island and secure the scene. In the immediate aftermath, rumours were rife of a professional hit, of gambling debts or even of Mr Mahmood having an affair with a local woman, but nothing stacked up. Could it simply be down to the colour of his skin? Amid concerns over racial tension towards the island's tiny Asian community, Moina Miah, the restaurant's owner, went into hiding under police guard with his wife and children. 'We are really scared in case whoever did this comes after us as well,' he said. Instead, the murderer melted back into the 20,000-strong island population and for months, despite extensive publicity and a Crimewatch appeal, local police officers were stumped. One, PC Edmund Ross, had been tasked with keeping curious onlookers away from the Bridge Street restaurant the morning after the murder. A firearms expert with a keen interest in guns, Eddy Ross was a former Royal Green Jacket and Special Branch officer who once protected Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The policeman was invited to examine the fatal bullet, which had wedged in the wall behind where Mr Mahmood fell. It turned out the 9mm calibre was from military ammunition supplied to the British Army in 1972 and exceedingly rare. PC Ross was tasked with checking all the 9mm guns on Orkney, but he found none capable of firing the bullet, nor any stocks of the same ammunition anywhere on the island. Yet ten weeks into the inquiry, the officer stunned detectives by casually mentioning that he owned a sealed box of similar bullets provided to him by James Spence, a retired Royal Marine and road sweeper. The officer claimed there was only one box, but Mr Spence told police he had supplied two, one of which was open. He further claimed the officer had asked him to lie on three occasions about the bullets. There was a further twist: PC Ross was Michael Ross's father. By this time, police were already eyeing the younger Ross with suspicion. Two weeks prior to the shooting he had been seen in a local area known as Papdale Woods wearing similar clothing to the killer and carrying out military-type exercises. Taken in for questioning, Ross ultimately accepted he was the person seen in Papdale Woods. The family home was searched and a notebook with a swastika and an SS symbol written on it was found, along with the words 'death to the English'. A balaclava was also discovered. Days before the killing, it would emerge, Ross was among a group of youths seen shouting racist abuse and threats at the 26-year-old waiter outside the restaurant. Yet Ross claimed to have an alibi for the night and said he was in another part of Kirkwall at the time. Ultimately, in the absence of forensic, DNA or fingerprint evidence – or a murder weapon, which was never found – prosecutors decided not to proceed. Instead, it was Eddy Ross who faced trial in 1997, and the disgraced policeman received a four-year jail sentence after being found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice in relation to the boxes of bullets. He spent two years behind bars, lost his police job and later reinvented himself as an undertaker. Meanwhile, his son was also building a new life for himself. As a teenager, he had been fascinated by guns and the military encouraged by his father, who had a large collection of hardware and even gave him a deactivated machine gun as a present. He once surprised a girlfriend by claiming he had one of his father's guns in his pocket. A year after Mr Mahmood's murder, Ross, a crack shot, joined the Black Watch and saw active military combat, becoming the sergeant of a sniper platoon. In 2004 his armoured vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Ross put himself in danger to administer first aid before organising the evacuation of his wounded men and was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery. When one black soldier under his command died, he openly wept. In his role as a soldier, he once guarded the Queen. He also married and had two children. Meanwhile, as the years passed and no alternative suspects emerged, Mr Mahmood's family despaired of ever seeing justice. It was not until 2006 that there was another break in the case, when an anonymous letter was handed in to Kirkwall police station, claiming to have been in the town's public toilets just before the shooting and had seen Ross there wielding a handgun. The man who handed it in was soon identified as a local named William Grant. It was enough to prompt a cold case review of the murder and a year later, Michael Ross was finally arrested. Far from the innocent victim claimed by his defence, prosecutors portrayed Ross as a racist teenager obsessed with guns who had murdered Mr Mahmood in cold blood and then fled the scene. There was to be a final twist. When Ross was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow in June 2008, he leapt from the dock and made an attempt at escape before he was jumped on by a court official. Some weeks later, an abandoned Avis hire car was found in the car park of a Tesco store in Springburn, around a mile from the court. Inside were a tent, sleeping bag, grenades, 450 rounds of ammunition, and a Skorpion machine pistol loaded and ready to fire. Although he later claimed the gun was so he could 'head for the hills' and live rough, surviving on fish and game he killed, another five years were added on to his sentence. Ross has since tried – and failed – to escape from prison three times, insisting he only does it to keep his name in the public eye. He has only succeeded in adding to his jail time – his earliest release date is currently 2035. Last month, The Orcadian newspaper published a letter Ross wrote from prison in which he admits using racist language in his teens. 'I can see why they say I'm racist,' he wrote. 'As an immature teenage boy I did say horrible and offensive, racist things... I am truly embarrassed.' Nevertheless, the campaign to clear his name continues and crowdfunding has paid for a high-profile human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar, to fight his corner. Mr Anwar said he believes people on the island know more than they let on and urged anyone with information to come forward. 'It may be that one shred of evidence might be enough. You just never know,' he said. That cuts little ice with Brian McConnachie, KC, who prosecuted the case. 'There was a significantly persuasive body of evidence that pointed to it being Michael Ross,' he says, 'but in some ways one of the saddest features about this case is that [it] became all about Michael Ross and had very little to do with Shamsuddin Mahmood.' Other victims continue to suffer in silence, too. For Emma, long years of therapy and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder have helped her cope, but memories of that night still haunt her. 'I don't think you do move on from trauma, you just live around it,' she says. 'It's affected every decision I have ever made, I think, in my life in one way or another.'
The Sun
12-06-2025
- The Sun
Where is The Orkney Assassin Michael Ross now?
THE Orkney Assassin, Michael Ross, was just 15 years old when he murdered waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood. On June 2 1994, Ross shot the waiter while he served customers in an Indian restaurant in Orkney, an island located off the northern coast of Scotland. Where is Michael Ross now? Michael Ross, born on 28 August 1978, was found guilty of the murder in 2008 and is serving a life sentence in HMP Shotts in Lanarkshire, with a minimum of 25 years. Ross was originally questioned by police six months after the murder of the 26-year-old waiter, but prosecutors ruled there was not enough evidence to charge the teenager. In the following summer, Ross left the island of Orkney, where he was born, and 17 joined the Scottish regiment. From there, he progressed through the ranks and became a decorated Black Watch sniper after serving a tour of duty in Iraq. But on June 20 2008, he was brought to justice in the High Court in Glasgow. During his guilty verdict, Ross, dramatically tried to flee by jumping out of the dock and knocking over the security guard. Now 47 years old, Ross has tried to escape HMP Shotts, one of Scotland's highest security prisons, three times, including an attempt to scale the fence in 2018. As a result, he was sentenced to two years in prison to run alongside his life term of which he has served 17 years so far. What happened to Shamsuddin Mahmood? The murder of Shamsuddin Mahmood took place on June 2, 1994 when he was fatally shot after a man wearing a balaclava entered Mumataz Restaurant in Kirkwall at around 7.10pm and exited the premises shortly after. Shamsuddin had arrived in Orkney only six weeks before and had plans to return to Bangladesh to marry his fiancée. Shamsuddin's murder was the first to take place on the island in 25 years and during the original investigation, 2,736 statements were taken. Ross' mother Moira, recounted the time Michael came home from the police station when he was 16 years old. She went upstairs and asked whether he had shot Shamsuddin six months before, which he denied. During the investigation, Edmund Ross' career as a police officer ended after he lied about the fact that he owned identical bullets to those used in the murder weapon. Edmund Ross was subsequently jailed for four years in 1997 for perverting the course of justice. It is reported that Michael Ross' earliest possible release is in 2035. How to watch The Orkney Assassin: Murder In The Isles Amazon Prime Video has released a special titled The Orkney Assassin: Murder In The Isles, providing insight from law enforcement officers, eyewitnesses, journalists, and also interviews with Ross' parents, who maintain his innocence. The first episode aired on Sunday, June 8 2025.
The Irish Sun
11-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
How ‘hitman' assassin stalked quiet UK island… until bombshell letter unmasked astonishing identity of ‘takeaway killer'
WHEN a single gunshot shattered a peaceful summer evening on the remote island of Orkney, the shockwaves would be felt by the close-knit rural community for decades to come. Families were dining in the island's only Indian restaurant when a masked man calmly walked in and killed 26-year-old waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood at point black range, before vanishing into the night without uttering a single word. 16 The murder scene shows a bullet hole in the wall where Mahmood was shot Credit: Coll MacDougall 16 Waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood was murdered with a single bullet in the Mumataz Indian Restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney Credit: Amazon 16 The murder continues to divide the remote UK island Credit: Getty 16 Michael Ross in 1994, shortly after he was first questioned over the murder Credit: Collect The Now an astonishing new Amazon Prime documentary, The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles revisits the bizarre case which saw a local schoolboy, Michael Ross, eventually convicted of the murder. Ross, now 46 years old, never took the stand during his trial at the High Court in Glasgow and has never given any interviews or made a statement before. But as the thirtieth anniversary of the crime approached, he agreed to speak to a local reporter from prison in Aberdeen. He and journalist Ethan Flett struck up a friendly rapport and Ross agreed to answer questions that had never been asked - including why he made four Ethan is the only journalist who has been allowed to visit him. He told The Sun: 'Looking into his eyes was a surreal experience. The meeting will stick in my mind for a while. 'Meeting Ross was just bizarre. 'The paradox is that here was this laid back, polite, easy going decent person who has been convicted of murder. 'The strangest thing about him is how normal he is. He's been taking the gym seriously. Horror moment Scots gangster Ross Monaghan is shot dead by hitman at Spanish pub as staff & punters flee in terror 'But we sat chatting in a room which is like any ordinary school cafeteria - except the furniture is bolted to the floor. 'I'd never been inside a prison before, it was just strange. 'When I initially asked Michael for an interview, he wrote straight back because he realised I knew the case quite well. "I have spent a lot of time looking at it, and the cold case review, but when I went to visit I made it clear that I was not in any way interested in campaigning for his innocence or trying to find someone else guilty. 'I had legitimate concerns about the case, and he was happy to proceed on that basis. He told me he was innocent but I wasn't going to take his word for it - he had been found guilty by a jury Ethan Flett 'He had serious concerns about the credibility of certain witnesses, and that various leads and motives had not been looked into properly because he was the prime and only suspect. 'He told me he was innocent but I wasn't going to take his word for it - he had been found guilty by a jury.' Cloud of suspicion The pair spent six months writing back and forth to each other, with Ross responding to each of Ethan's questions in great detail. During the original murder investigation, 2,736 statements were taken, and a pair of witnesses claimed they saw Ross wearing the same balaclava and dark clothing as the murderer in woodland a fortnight earlier. The 15-year-old was called in for questioning, accompanied by his father - a well respected local police officer, Eddy Ross. Ross proclaimed his innocence - claiming he was out for a bike ride that night and his route did not take him anywhere near the murder scene. 16 Ross continues to protest his innocence and has repeatedly tried to escape jail Credit: PA:Press Association 16 Reporter Ethan Flett visited Ross in prison and struck up a rapport Credit: Amazon It was a time before CCTV or mobile phones, and recalling the night of the murder, Ross confided to Ethan: 'I didn't know what the sirens were for at that point, and didn't think much more about it.' Despite the cloud of suspicion hanging over her son, his mother Moira added that he was "just his normal self' that night. Moira, who believes the real killer remains on the loose, later went upstairs to his bedroom: "I said: 'Did you shoot that man?' and he said 'no' and I just can't get over the look on his face when I asked him that." She maintains her son never set foot in the restaurant. Angus Chisholm was the detective inspector for the then Northern Constabulary in Inverness sent to oversee the manhunt. Unaware of the connection, he tasked Eddy with the ballistic side of the investigation. Its focus became the 9mm bullet casing of the single shot which passed through 26 year-old Mr Mahmood's head and became embedded in the wall. Eddy quickly identified the round as one previously used by the British Army. 16 The murder investigation was led by top cop Angus Chisholm Credit: Amazon 16 Ross with his parents Eddy and Moira during a prison visit in 2012 Credit: Supplied And as the inquiry continued a reconstruction of the murder featured on the BBC's Crimewatch UK. But, unlike most TV appeals, detectives had no description of the gunman. Locals wrestled with various theories but inquiries on the island and in the waiter's native Bangladesh drew a blank. Two months later, Eddy confessed that he had discovered a box of the same 9mm bullets used in the murder - in his own home. In a jaw-dropping revelation, the father-of-three claimed he had been given the box - which was still sealed - by a pal who was a former marine. 16 The Scorpion machine pistol weapon was found in the car hired by Ross Credit: PA:Press Association But when questioned, his friend Jim Spence said he had given Eddy two boxes - one sealed and one half full. In a separate development, a mother and daughter reported they had seen a masked male acting suspiciously in nearby Papdale Woods - and named him as PC Ross' son Michael. Eddy said later: "Basically from that point in time the finger was pointing towards us." But evidence mounted against Michael when cops searched the family home. 'Death to the English' They found school books with Nazi swastikas drawn over them, scribbles saying 'Death to the English' and SS symbols. Although Mahmood had only been on the island for six weeks, and had no known enemies, his family insisted the shooting was racially motivated. Then, in December, Ross was arrested and admitted dropping his balaclava into the sea with a heavy stone attached. But Chisholm said the teenager was unfazed by the gravity of the allegations. 16 The letter sent by witness William Grant led to the enquiry being reopened Credit: Collect 16 Ross was given a further five years for trying to flee court after the verdict Credit: Northpix He recalled: "He was cool, calm and collected." Although there was not enough evidence to charge Ross, the investigation left Eddy's 23 year police career in ruins - he was charged with perverting the course of justice and jailed for three years. Meanwhile Ross left school at the age of 17 and joined his father's old regiment, the Black Watch, progressing through the ranks and eventually becoming the sergeant of a sniper platoon. He married, had two daughters and was even mentioned in dispatches for showing bravery when comrades were killed during a tour of Iraq. And while he remained free, the troubling tale slipped into obscurity. I promise that I saw the person who killed the Indian waiter William Grant But in 2006, 12 years after the murder, the cold case took a fresh twist when an anonymous letter was handed in to the local police station. This was the breakthrough that would lead to Ross's downfall. A new witness, local man William Grant, claimed he saw the killer coming out of a public toilet cubicle on the night of the murder, brandishing a gun. The shock revelation led to Ross's arrest. 'It was disbelief again,' he told Ethan. Hallmarks of professional hit Ross maintained his innocence, and Leah Seator, editor of The Orcadian, said many people on the island thought Ross would walk free. His lawyer argued it was unthinkable that a teenager could have carried out the killing - it had the hallmarks of a professional hit. Prosecutor Brian McConnachie said the case has had a lasting impact on the community which remains divided over his guilt. "I suspect it still does affect people. "I think there's always going to be two sides." 16 Prosecutor Brian McConnachie said the case still divides the island Credit: Amazon 16 The victim's brother Abul Shafuddin Mahmood maintains the murder was racially motivated Credit: Orkney Photographic Archive 16 Witnesses reported seeing the killer in Papdale Woods close to the scene Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd McConnachie described the high profile case as "challenging" but on 20 June 2008 the jury took just four hours to return a guilty verdict - only for the moment to be overshadowed by an audacious escape attempt. As he was about to be led away Ross dramatically knocked over a security guard, and jumped out of the dock. He yanked open a side door and ran, but was tackled by a court official. It later emerged that he had parked a rental car two miles from the court, containing a Skorpion machine pistol with 542 rounds of ammunition - which he had smuggled back from Kosovo - as well as an air rifle, hand grenade, smoke grenades, a sleeping bag, camping equipment and survival gear. There's something unnerving about what was contained within the car Brian McConnachie KC McConnachie added: "If you are trying to look for things that point towards guilt, then you might look at the circumstances of the last day of the trial, and the motor vehicle that he had and the things he had in them when he tried to escape from the court - never mind trying to escape from the prison. "There's something unnerving about what was contained within the car." When Ross returned to court four months later, amid heightened security, he was sentenced to 25 years plus a further five for his bid to flee. 16 Ross's friend Susan Robinson joined the campaign for his release Credit: Michael Schofield - The Sun Glasgow In that time, he has made three further attempts to escape from custody in one of Scotland's highest security prisons. In 2014, he tried to break out of a security van on the way to hospital and, in 2016, he stole an angle grinder from the prison workshop, replacing it with a wooden replica. Most recently, in 2018, the former soldier tried to scale the perimeter fence of a sports field at HMP Shotts in Lanarkshire, using a rope ladder he fashioned. His jacket contained food, clothing and a toothbrush, and he was placed into solitary confinement for a week. 16 The Orcadian newspaper has covered the case for over 40 years Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd Ross's lawyer said he knew the bid for freedom would fail but he wanted to attract attention to his appeal. His conviction was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeal however, and in 2014, a review deemed that the soldier had not suffered a miscarriage of justice. He remains incarcerated and his earliest release date is 2035. Looking back at his meetings with Ross, Ethan added: 'I honestly don't know whether he is guilty. 'He answered all my questions openly, I've read his psychiatric reports and he seems sane. He has expressed sorrow in an open letter to the victim's family Ethan Flett 'What I found most interesting was his justifications for his escape attempts. 'He says that he did it to garner a bit of publicity for his claims of innocence, and says that he would have surrendered to the authorities if he were successful. 'He admitted to saying racist things as a teenager, but claimed that it was immaturity that he regretted. 'He has expressed sorrow in an open letter to the victim's family but he does not think it would be appropriate to speak to them directly. 'There's still so much interest in this case from Orkney people, so the story is ongoing.' While the victim's family feel justice has been served, Ross's supporters have set up a petition to clear his name. The shadow of doubt still divides opinion in Orkney to this day. The Orkney Assassin is streaming on Prime Video now.
Scottish Sun
11-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
How hitman-style assassination baffled remote UK island for over a decade… before mysterious letter revealed takeaway killer's true identity
WHEN a single gunshot shattered a peaceful summer evening on the remote island of Orkney, the shockwaves would be felt by the close-knit rural community for decades to come. Families were dining in the island's only Indian restaurant when a masked man calmly walked in and killed 26-year-old waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood at point black range, before vanishing into the night without uttering a single word. 16 The murder scene shows a bullet hole in the wall where Mahmood was shot Credit: Coll MacDougall 16 Waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood was murdered with a single bullet in the Mumataz Indian Restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney Credit: Amazon 16 The murder continues to divide...
The Sun
11-06-2025
- The Sun
How ‘hitman' assassin stalked quiet UK island… until bombshell letter unmasked astonishing identity of ‘takeaway killer'
WHEN a single gunshot shattered a peaceful summer evening on the remote island of Orkney, the shockwaves would be felt by the close-knit rural community for decades to come. Families were dining in the island's only Indian restaurant when a masked man calmly walked in and killed 26-year-old waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood at point black range, before vanishing into the night without uttering a single word. 16 16 The extraordinary murder on June 2, 1994 sparked a manhunt that continues to fiercely divide the tiny island off the north coast of Scotland, which has a population of less than 22,000. Now an astonishing new Amazon Prime documentary, The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles revisits the bizarre case which saw a local schoolboy, Michael Ross, eventually convicted of the murder. Ross, now 46 years old, never took the stand during his trial at the High Court in Glasgow and has never given any interviews or made a statement before. But as the thirtieth anniversary of the crime approached, he agreed to speak to a local reporter from prison in Aberdeen. He and journalist Ethan Flett struck up a friendly rapport and Ross agreed to answer questions that had never been asked - including why he made four brazen attempts to break out of jail. Ethan is the only journalist who has been allowed to visit him. He told The Sun: 'Looking into his eyes was a surreal experience. The meeting will stick in my mind for a while. 'Meeting Ross was just bizarre. 'The paradox is that here was this laid back, polite, easy going decent person who has been convicted of murder. 'The strangest thing about him is how normal he is. He's been taking the gym seriously. Horror moment Scots gangster Ross Monaghan is shot dead by hitman at Spanish pub as staff & punters flee in terror 'But we sat chatting in a room which is like any ordinary school cafeteria - except the furniture is bolted to the floor. 'I'd never been inside a prison before, it was just strange. 'When I initially asked Michael for an interview, he wrote straight back because he realised I knew the case quite well. "I have spent a lot of time looking at it, and the cold case review, but when I went to visit I made it clear that I was not in any way interested in campaigning for his innocence or trying to find someone else guilty. 'I had legitimate concerns about the case, and he was happy to proceed on that basis. He told me he was innocent but I wasn't going to take his word for it - he had been found guilty by a jury Ethan Flett 'He had serious concerns about the credibility of certain witnesses, and that various leads and motives had not been looked into properly because he was the prime and only suspect. 'He told me he was innocent but I wasn't going to take his word for it - he had been found guilty by a jury.' Cloud of suspicion The pair spent six months writing back and forth to each other, with Ross responding to each of Ethan's questions in great detail. During the original murder investigation, 2,736 statements were taken, and a pair of witnesses claimed they saw Ross wearing the same balaclava and dark clothing as the murderer in woodland a fortnight earlier. The 15-year-old was called in for questioning, accompanied by his father - a well respected local police officer, Eddy Ross. Ross proclaimed his innocence - claiming he was out for a bike ride that night and his route did not take him anywhere near the murder scene. It was a time before CCTV or mobile phones, and recalling the night of the murder, Ross confided to Ethan: 'I didn't know what the sirens were for at that point, and didn't think much more about it.' Despite the cloud of suspicion hanging over her son, his mother Moira added that he was "just his normal self' that night. Moira, who believes the real killer remains on the loose, later went upstairs to his bedroom: "I said: 'Did you shoot that man?' and he said 'no' and I just can't get over the look on his face when I asked him that." She maintains her son never set foot in the restaurant. Angus Chisholm was the detective inspector for the then Northern Constabulary in Inverness sent to oversee the manhunt. Unaware of the connection, he tasked Eddy with the ballistic side of the investigation. Its focus became the 9mm bullet casing of the single shot which passed through 26 year-old Mr Mahmood's head and became embedded in the wall. Eddy quickly identified the round as one previously used by the British Army. 16 And as the inquiry continued a reconstruction of the murder featured on the BBC's Crimewatch UK. But, unlike most TV appeals, detectives had no description of the gunman. Locals wrestled with various theories but inquiries on the island and in the waiter's native Bangladesh drew a blank. Two months later, Eddy confessed that he had discovered a box of the same 9mm bullets used in the murder - in his own home. In a jaw-dropping revelation, the father-of-three claimed he had been given the box - which was still sealed - by a pal who was a former marine. But when questioned, his friend Jim Spence said he had given Eddy two boxes - one sealed and one half full. In a separate development, a mother and daughter reported they had seen a masked male acting suspiciously in nearby Papdale Woods - and named him as PC Ross' son Michael. Eddy said later: "Basically from that point in time the finger was pointing towards us." But evidence mounted against Michael when cops searched the family home. 'Death to the English' They found school books with Nazi swastikas drawn over them, scribbles saying 'Death to the English' and SS symbols. Although Mahmood had only been on the island for six weeks, and had no known enemies, his family insisted the shooting was racially motivated. Then, in December, Ross was arrested and admitted dropping his balaclava into the sea with a heavy stone attached. But Chisholm said the teenager was unfazed by the gravity of the allegations. 16 He recalled: "He was cool, calm and collected." Although there was not enough evidence to charge Ross, the investigation left Eddy's 23 year police career in ruins - he was charged with perverting the course of justice and jailed for three years. Meanwhile Ross left school at the age of 17 and joined his father's old regiment, the Black Watch, progressing through the ranks and eventually becoming the sergeant of a sniper platoon. He married, had two daughters and was even mentioned in dispatches for showing bravery when comrades were killed during a tour of Iraq. And while he remained free, the troubling tale slipped into obscurity. But in 2006, 12 years after the murder, the cold case took a fresh twist when an anonymous letter was handed in to the local police station. This was the breakthrough that would lead to Ross's downfall. A new witness, local man William Grant, claimed he saw the killer coming out of a public toilet cubicle on the night of the murder, brandishing a gun. The shock revelation led to Ross's arrest. 'It was disbelief again,' he told Ethan. Hallmarks of professional hit Ross maintained his innocence, and Leah Seator, editor of The Orcadian, said many people on the island thought Ross would walk free. His lawyer argued it was unthinkable that a teenager could have carried out the killing - it had the hallmarks of a professional hit. Prosecutor Brian McConnachie said the case has had a lasting impact on the community which remains divided over his guilt. "I suspect it still does affect people. "I think there's always going to be two sides." 16 16 16 McConnachie described the high profile case as "challenging" but on 20 June 2008 the jury took just four hours to return a guilty verdict - only for the moment to be overshadowed by an audacious escape attempt. As he was about to be led away Ross dramatically knocked over a security guard, and jumped out of the dock. He yanked open a side door and ran, but was tackled by a court official. It later emerged that he had parked a rental car two miles from the court, containing a Skorpion machine pistol with 542 rounds of ammunition - which he had smuggled back from Kosovo - as well as an air rifle, hand grenade, smoke grenades, a sleeping bag, camping equipment and survival gear. McConnachie added: "If you are trying to look for things that point towards guilt, then you might look at the circumstances of the last day of the trial, and the motor vehicle that he had and the things he had in them when he tried to escape from the court - never mind trying to escape from the prison. "There's something unnerving about what was contained within the car." When Ross returned to court four months later, amid heightened security, he was sentenced to 25 years plus a further five for his bid to flee. In that time, he has made three further attempts to escape from custody in one of Scotland's highest security prisons. In 2014, he tried to break out of a security van on the way to hospital and, in 2016, he stole an angle grinder from the prison workshop, replacing it with a wooden replica. Most recently, in 2018, the former soldier tried to scale the perimeter fence of a sports field at HMP Shotts in Lanarkshire, using a rope ladder he fashioned. His jacket contained food, clothing and a toothbrush, and he was placed into solitary confinement for a week. Ross's lawyer said he knew the bid for freedom would fail but he wanted to attract attention to his appeal. His conviction was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeal however, and in 2014, a review deemed that the soldier had not suffered a miscarriage of justice. He remains incarcerated and his earliest release date is 2035. Looking back at his meetings with Ross, Ethan added: 'I honestly don't know whether he is guilty. 'He answered all my questions openly, I've read his psychiatric reports and he seems sane. 'What I found most interesting was his justifications for his escape attempts. 'He says that he did it to garner a bit of publicity for his claims of innocence, and says that he would have surrendered to the authorities if he were successful. 'He admitted to saying racist things as a teenager, but claimed that it was immaturity that he regretted. 'He has expressed sorrow in an open letter to the victim's family but he does not think it would be appropriate to speak to them directly. 'There's still so much interest in this case from Orkney people, so the story is ongoing.' While the victim's family feel justice has been served, Ross's supporters have set up a petition to clear his name. The shadow of doubt still divides opinion in Orkney to this day. The Orkney Assassin is streaming on Prime Video now.
