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.
The murder scene shows a bullet hole in the wall where Mahmood was shot[/caption]
Waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood was murdered with a single bullet in the Mumataz Indian Restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney[/caption]
The murder continues to divide the remote UK island[/caption]
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.
“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.
Ross continues to protest his innocence and has repeatedly tried to escape jail[/caption]
Reporter Ethan Flett visited Ross in prison and struck up a rapport[/caption]
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.
The murder investigation was led by top cop Angus Chisholm[/caption]
Ross with his parents Eddy and Moira during a prison visit in 2012[/caption]
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.
The Scorpion machine pistol weapon was found in the car hired by Ross[/caption]
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.
The letter sent by witness William Grant led to the enquiry being reopened[/caption]
Ross was given a further five years for trying to flee court after the verdict[/caption]
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.”
Prosecutor Brian McConnachie said the case still divides the island[/caption]
The victim’s brother Abul Shafuddin Mahmood maintains the murder was racially motivated[/caption]
Witnesses reported seeing the killer in Papdale Woods close to the scene[/caption]
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.
Ross’s friend Susan Robinson joined the campaign for his release[/caption]
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.
The Orcadian newspaper has covered the case for over 40 years[/caption]
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.
