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Short filmTranscript
00:00My journey to Orkney began on the return flight from Bangladesh where the gentleman I was sitting
00:12next to he offered a job with his brother's restaurant I thought why not never been to an
00:18island let's go I was around about 20 21 when my brother asked me to join him in the Orkney Isles
00:27and he was like a experience of a lifetime and then Shamel joined us in the restaurant he was
00:38always smiling he had like a little giggle constantly he was full of life we all called
00:46him handsome because of his dress sense all the customers used to call him handsome as well
00:53and he liked it he was a friendly type of a fella yeah it wasn't dangerous to anybody
01:07what we're seeing here is a live ram being fired at point-blank range which is what
01:14happened with chum shooting so his perpetrator literally went up as close as he possibly could
01:19it was like a scene out in an American gangster movie doesn't sweat doesn't hesitate calm cool no
01:33sweat which is what you need to be to walk in the restaurant and kill somebody at point-blank range
01:38asking your son if he killed a man
01:43is
01:46horrendous ballistic evidence should have led detective straight to 15 year old Ross but his father seen
01:54here was a police officer involved in the inquiry and he covered up evidence to protect him
02:00Michael Ross is a racist murderer the punishment 25 years in prison Michael was not just like any
02:11other 15 year old he had access to guns how could this have been a 15 year old boy it's not the kind of
02:23crime that is committed by a 15 year old boy in Orkney well I believe this to be the good man and that's not make a loss
02:35although it seems like odd behavior there is a convincing explanation but then Michael does
02:42something with his balacalava which is harder to explain somebody came out of the toilet it was a young
02:52boy he had a gun in his hand and I knew he was I was terrified
03:04this call is from a Scottish prison it will be logged and recorded and may be monitored
03:08yeah I can't be any clearer hey I never murdered Samson if not Michael who did kill
03:20man with a mask on came in and thought he was in to shoot everyone
03:38this has been a stranger twistier case than I could have imagined being in Orkney hearing everyone's testimony
03:50and reading the files has been astonishing but I still can't decide whether Michael Ross killed Shamsud in the mood or not
04:02either he had the ability as a 15 year old boy to walk into a restaurant and shoot someone at point-blank range which is what he's been convicted of or this has been a terrible miscarriage of justice and someone else murdered Shamsud
04:13Shamsud someone who's never been caught someone who's never been caught it's a frightening thought
04:18it's a frightening thought
04:23but there's a chapter of the story that I've yet to investigate that's the 14-year period between the
04:41But there's a chapter of the story that I've yet to investigate.
04:45That's the 14-year period between the police being unable to charge Michael Ross as a teenager,
04:50through to his conviction.
04:54I want to dig into the hundreds of witness statements,
04:57internal reports and documents that I've got hold of,
05:01which covers this period, and especially Michael's trial.
05:06I want to use these documents to try and figure out what really happened.
05:11And the best place to start is when Michael went into the army.
05:22This photograph is of Michael when he was in the Blackworks Regiment,
05:25probably within the first year.
05:27Best regiment in the Scottish Division.
05:31He was always interested in different regiments.
05:33And although the regiment for this area was the Queenstone Highlanders,
05:37he probably heard stories I was telling and he chose the Blackwatch.
05:43And he did very well in it too, so...
05:46Michael Ross has never spoken publicly about his case.
05:49But I've got hold of audio recordings of him answering questions which have never been heard before.
05:57He hasn't been challenged by a journalist,
05:59but his answers give a unique insight into his version of events.
06:05Michael Ross excels in the army and he becomes, of all things, a sniper in the Blackwatch.
06:11By 2004, he and his regiment are sent to Iraq and stationed in Bajra,
06:15where they become embroiled in ten days of intensive fighting.
06:18I'm on my dad's footsteps being a Blackwatch owner.
06:21Once I've reached the time, we worked hard and it was almost like a family itself.
06:29Michael Ross excels in the army and he becomes, of all things, a sniper in the Blackwatch.
06:36By 2004, he and his regiment are sent to Iraq and stationed in Bajra,
06:40where they become embroiled in ten days of intensive fighting.
06:43I was myself as number one sniper.
06:56And my number two sniper was a lad, John.
06:59A really brave guy.
07:01He was a proper good guy to have with me, so I was really just...
07:04I had him with me.
07:08There's... I'm here.
07:10And then Mickey's just down there to the left.
07:13There's Mickey there.
07:18I'm John.
07:20I was a serving soldier with the 1st Battalion, the Blackwatch.
07:24And I served with Mickey Ross in Iraq, 04.
07:27Michael was a gentleman.
07:29But he was cool.
07:30Cool and calm.
07:31Like, he never got...
07:32He never got excited.
07:33A lot of people, if you're getting shot at and all, have been getting excited and all.
07:36And he was calm, you know?
07:38Like, he'd been living in the war zone his whole life, nearly, like.
07:42This is just my Iraq album from the two tours I'd done.
07:44I'd done the war back in 2003 and then were sent back out.
07:49Basically, that's just me.
07:51I think that's about the first day of the war.
07:54Just this, Michael there.
07:57He'd wake up in the morning, there'd be motors coming in.
08:00Then all snipers would go up to the roof.
08:03And he could be there for maybe four, six, eight hours a day.
08:08Man, it was calm.
08:10There was no excitement out of him, though.
08:12He knew his huge job.
08:13He was his number.
08:14He was the sniper.
08:15I was his number, too, like.
08:16First, I was spotting targets for him.
08:22It was hard going, like, but it was good fun.
08:23It was an experience.
08:24You know?
08:25It was.
08:29It might sound strange, in a way, because you kind of get used to being in gunfights.
08:33We were up in an area that was, like, the Wild West.
08:37Lots of RPGs, guns, grenades getting thrown about.
08:40Oh, it's been fired.
08:41Here, they are never around.
08:43Me and him, bro, got real close.
08:45Like, Danny, he'd said about all this, that case that was going on.
08:48He was describing it all to me about what had happened,
08:51what he'd been accused of years ago.
08:53And that it was a racist thing and all.
08:55And Mickey was racist, like.
08:57He's far from it.
08:59The opposite of racist.
09:01And I asked him, had he done it?
09:04And he said no.
09:05And I never, ever, asked him again about it.
09:07You know, he just took his word.
09:08He was a man of his word, like.
09:10No.
09:12Later on, when we moved north to support the U.S. Marines,
09:16my costume ended up being in a suicide bombing.
09:20A mass casualty situation.
09:22Wow.
09:23An Orkney soldier has been recognised for his bravery during his tour of duty in Iraq.
09:35Corporal Michael Ross, who served with the Black Watch for nine years, was singled out for showing bravery after he held people wounded by an explosion in Basra.
09:44He was mentioned in dispatches for looking after the injured while coming under fire himself.
09:47Heard it on Radio Orkney and, oh, got so, so excited. I thought, oh, I must phone Eddie. And yeah, just very excited about it.
10:00Very proud moment again.
10:01It reads, by the Queen's order, the name of Corporal Michael Alexander Ross, the Black Watch, was published in the London Gazette on Friday, 18th March 2005.
10:11I mentioned in dispatches for gallantry. I am charged to record Her Majesty's high appreciations.
10:19And so he got for that.
10:21The one in the corner there, the third one in with small silver oak leaf.
10:25He'd go out for his actions. There was two bomb explosions on several of the vehicle servers. A few people were killed.
10:32In fact, Michael was in the, he was the commander of the vehicle he was in and he was literally in the turret and his bomb went off.
10:40But his driver there, he was the boy that was killed.
10:42But then something happens closer to home. A programme is broadcast back in the UK, which drags the Ross family back into the case of who murdered Shamal.
11:01Orkney is a community not exactly renowned for violent crime, but that peaceful image was shattered nearly ten years ago in an act of almost unimaginable brutality.
11:10The killer is still at large. The prime suspect is Michael Ross.
11:17Married with a baby girl, he's in the Black Watch Regiment and is currently an instructor at the Catholic Training Barracks in Yorkshire.
11:25So they name him, yet a decade earlier there wasn't enough evidence to charge him.
11:32Police believe they're not that far away from bringing a person before a jury in this case, but are still missing that final piece of evidence to complete the jigsaw.
11:40In 2006, two years after that documentary aired, this final piece of the jigsaw dropped into place.
11:49So here at Kirkwall Police Station, a man walks in off the street and hands in an anonymous letter.
11:59We say anonymous, but he wasn't really, because the woman on the front desk knew who he was. His name was William Grant.
12:06And I'm going to read you some of this letter. It says, this is a true letter. I promise that I saw the person who killed the Indian waiter. I saw his face in full and the handgun. It was in the toilets at Kiln Corner. I have lived long enough with the guilt of not coming forward.
12:23William Grant would become the new star witness, allowing the police to reopen the case against Michael Ross.
12:31He's never given an interview until now.
12:38I am William Gordon Grant. I saw the person in the toilet and saw him running out after. If it wasn't for my testimony, indeed, the trial would never have happened, yeah.
12:54That's young Michael Ross. I knew his age was 14 or 15. I can't tell you somewhere about there.
13:01I put my glasses off. I want to see him any better.
13:06That's the person I saw right enough. I can't get away from that fact.
13:11I wish I'd never bloody seen him.
13:17On the night of the murder, William Grant says that he was out drinking by himself.
13:22Now, at some point, between 7 and 9pm, William tells the police that he went in to use the toilets, which once stood behind me here.
13:33When he's inside, he says that he comes face to face with Michael, who's holding a gun.
13:39He says they stayed at each other for 15 to 20 seconds, and then William Grant leaves the toilet.
13:45And this is a picture of him.
13:46And this is a picture of him.
13:50Holy magoli.
13:54I can't mind when that was taken.
13:56It's been getting back a few years now, indeed.
13:59Yeah.
14:00I was in the toilet, and I had somebody rustling a bag in one of the cubiters.
14:15I was just about to finish what I was doing.
14:17Somebody came out of the toilet.
14:19It was a young boy.
14:21He had a gun in his hand.
14:25I noticed Michael's face.
14:27I was terrified.
14:29I thought to myself, I could be the next victim.
14:34I stupidly stayed quiet.
14:37I thought it would be the best thing to do.
14:39This is the letter.
14:41This is William Grant's letter.
14:43This is what he handed in to the police station, and that just kick-started things again.
14:49This is a true letter.
14:51I promise that I saw the person who killed the Indian waiter.
14:55I saw his face in full, and the handgun.
14:58Handgun.
14:59I have lived long enough with the guilt of not coming forward.
15:03The person was about 15 years plus of age.
15:06White, and had a balaclava on his head, but still not turned down.
15:11Get it.
15:13On top.
15:15On top like that.
15:17That's what it was.
15:19Maybe the eye bits were there, or something.
15:21I think it was.
15:23A balaclava.
15:25The handgun was natural polished metal, or silver.
15:30And was like a big Beretta.
15:33This may sound stupid, but the way he held the handgun looked like he had handled a firearm before.
15:39I just don't ken what to do.
15:42Worried sick witness.
15:47We'll pop it on the wall.
15:49Worried sick.
15:54Hmm.
15:57Now as a lawyer, maybe you can call me cynical, but I trained in criminal defence before I became a human rights lawyer.
16:02Okay, so the first thing I'd ask is, why would anybody say this is a true letter?
16:10I wonder, why didn't you call the police?
16:12My lawyers phoned me and said, aye, there's a guy come forward, William Grant, saying that he's seen me in the toilets, a kind of killing corner, with a balaclava and a gun.
16:28Always at that point, I didn't know who this William Grant person was.
16:33Never let him in the floor as far as I was aware.
16:36The Mumutaz was cordoned off today as local police and officers brought in from the mainland searched for the killer.
16:42He'd burst into the restaurant wearing a balaclava and blasted the waiter in the face before running out onto the street.
16:48Everybody in Ireland had been interviewed. Why he didn't volunteer that information at the time, I have no idea.
16:58I don't think I've seen this letter till now, but it sounds a bit specific, how he could say he was 15-year-old. I mean, that'd be difficult to judge.
17:09A good description of the gun.
17:11My first involvement in the case is when that letter came forward. I thought the letter at the time was particularly compelling in the sense of the paragraph where he indicates that, in his view, the person looked like they had handled the gun before.
17:30William Grant gives four statements to the police 12 years after Shamal is murdered. The interesting thing about them is that they keep changing.
17:42Now, given it's William's testimony that would lead to Michael eventually going on trial and then being found guilty, I think it's important to look at these really, really closely.
17:54Let's consider the murder weapon. In William's anonymous letter, he refers to it at different times, by the way, as a handgun, a big Beretta and a firearm.
18:12I have no idea about guns. I just call a gun a gun. But he then goes on to say that this handgun was a natural polished metal or silver.
18:25Now, this is really interesting because I also have the statements taken from all the witnesses who were inside the restaurant at the time of Shamal's murder.
18:36But just reading from the top down, you know, black and shiny, dark grey, gun metal grey, black chunky and heavy, black matte, dark coloured, grey grey, black black, heavy solid, black and dark.
18:51William then changes this part of his statement. And he's now saying that the gun wasn't highly polished or silver, that it was now dark grey.
19:05Well, I guess it's like a natural polished metal or silver. I'm not sure why he said that, you know, it's just, that's just for something to say, just, why he said a big Beretta? I like to say, I'd no idea why he said that.
19:18And it was just something that came to my mind at the time. I thought, OK, why he said that at all?
19:24Which one is it? A handgun? Beretta? Firearm? It sounds to me extremely convenient. And it sounds to me like someone who has been fed their lines.
19:36Now, look like he handled a firearm before. How exactly does William Grant know how you handle a Beretta?
19:44My name's George Thompson. I did my time as a detective. I've recently retired from a long time in criminal defence work.
20:00A criminal defence investigator is a person who assists a solicitor in the preparation of a defence case.
20:10The main witness in this case, Willie Grant, made great attempts to avoid me. Time and time again, we would make appointments to see him and he just wouldn't turn up.
20:24He was always very, very evasive.
20:26I didn't feel like there were any particular red flags in relation to it. It had the feel of someone who had seen something, hadn't told anyone and effectively had decided they needed to get it off their chest.
20:45But there was another witness who police had spoken to who was also going to be damaging to Michael Ross's case.
20:51This is Scapa Beach. In June 1993, a year before Shamil's murder, Michael's walking here with his then-girlfriend. They've been going out for three years.
21:04After the shooting, she gives a statement to police that Michael tells her a secret. He tells her that he had a gun with him.
21:13While his dad was way on business, Michael found the key for Eddie's gun cabinet and he took one out of it.
21:19It seems pretty damning, to be honest, because now we've got his former girlfriend saying that he also had access to his dad's guns.
21:29At the High Court in Glasgow, the trial has begun of the man accused of murdering a waiter in an Orkney restaurant almost 14 years ago.
21:4829-year-old Michael Ross is pleading not guilty.
21:55Before I went to trial, obviously myself and my wife are discussing things like she would get divorced, dead, so that she doesn't get affected by things too much, so that she can try and live her own life.
22:07I'd seen my dad sent to prison and, to my mind, wrongfully convicted. At that point, I had no control of my life. All thought was of me going away and not being there for my wife and my kids anymore.
22:21I couldn't believe I had gone to this state. It was nerve-wracking for both of us. And we got to speak to Michael every morning. And he seemed quite confident initially.
22:39One of the difficulties I had in prosecuting this case is that I had to persuade a jury that a 15-year-old boy, at the time, had walked into a court court.
23:08He walked into a restaurant, shot somebody from point-blank range, murdered him, walked out again.
23:17Willie Grant saw Michael Ross with a gun coming out of a cubicle in a nearby toilet on the night of the shooting.
23:26We had no idea as to whether he would be a fantastic witness or a terrible witness.
23:33William Grant, his evidence didn't appear to be overly convincing. There are problems with the corroboration of his story, or the lack of corroboration of his story, I think.
23:44This afternoon, Mr Grant was cross-examined by Donald Finlay QC for the defence. Mr Finlay said to Mr Grant,
23:51it wasn't Michael Ross you saw in the kiln corner toilets that night. Could that be right? Very possibly it wasn't, said Mr Grant.
24:00William Grant.
24:01William Grant goes on to tell the court that the reason he was in Kirkwall was to compete in a snooker competition at the Masonic Lodge, with a detective in the case.
24:09I have in front of me the actual court transcripts from Michael Ross's trial and his defence QC, Donald Finlay, explores how William Grant was able to recognise and identify that it was Michael Ross in kiln corner toilets.
24:30He asks William Grant, if it might have been at a Masonic meeting, they might have suggested the name of Michael Ross. Grant replies, very possibly.
24:43So essentially what William Grant has just done is just admitted to the court that somebody in the Masonic Lodge has possibly given him Michael's name.
24:53And that's just wild. I feel like I'm watching a courtroom drama.
25:00He was closely involved with the Masonic Lodge. The detective sergeant, one of the main witnesses in the case, he came from the same lodge.
25:12I've always been of the view that any police officer should not allow to be a member of a Freemasons group.
25:17Rumours or allegations remain all they are, but the issue I suppose arises is, was William Grant influenced?
25:27There's something that has potential to lead to a miscarriage of justice.
25:32I have heard that people reckon that police told me what to say.
25:38And I just said, I just went along with them. And they basically rotted for me. That was totally untrue.
25:50It had been put to grant as well that the police couldn't find any CCTV footage that could confirm his presence in the town.
25:55And I don't think he could really explain how that could be the case.
25:58I certainly haven't seen any evidence that he actually was in Corkwell that night.
26:03I was just so stressed out. I was just, I was so, just, I was just shouting like a leaf.
26:09I was just, oh, it was just, I just wanted too much.
26:13How did they even appear as a witness when he was so discredited? He was destroyed.
26:18Absolutely shredded in a courtroom.
26:20No, I was not lying. I just couldn't, I was just being asked so many questions in such a short time.
26:27I think his answers changed regularly because, for the most part, he didn't actually know what the answer was.
26:42I was trying to do the right thing. I didn't make it up.
26:46Something I would never do.
26:49I can say that I didn't make it up, no.
26:54His evidence was just the icing on the cake, I suppose.
27:01Rather than being the building blocks of the evidence.
27:10Despite the flaws in William Grant's testimony being drawn out under cross-examination by the defence,
27:16the case against Michael Ross continued.
27:19Michael Ross was charged with Mr Mahmood's murder.
27:23Now, he has pled not guilty to this and has lodged a special defence of alibi.
27:28During the trial, Michael Ross's special defence is the plea of alibi.
27:33When Shamal was shot at around 7.15pm, Michael says he was a mile away talking to two friends from cadets.
27:40Now, this is critical to Michael Ross's innocence, so I want to examine this.
27:47This is the route that Michael says that he takes that evening.
27:52Now, Michael says that he arrives here at around 7.10pm on the night of the murder.
28:00After my dinner, I'd taken a cycle into town, and as I've been cycling out the area, I've seen Hayden.
28:19And then, as I've spoke to Hayden, all the lasses come running over.
28:24Just at 4 or just after something hot, I think it was at night.
28:28Just a brief conversation.
28:30Let's examine Michael Ross's version of events.
28:44We're in East Abista State, so the Mumetaz restaurant is about a mile in that direction,
28:51and about under four miles over there is Michael Ross's house.
28:55So, Michael stops right here.
28:58He says he speaks to two friends from cadets, two 14-year-olds.
29:04He says the boy he chats to from the garden opposite,
29:08and then the girl comes running out to meet him from over there by these garages.
29:14He says that he's speaking to the cadets about a fight he had the day before with another cadet,
29:18and that the boy wants to see his cut and his bruised knuckles.
29:23And I mean, 14, 15, a fight would have been big news, so of course you're going to want to talk about it.
29:30Michael gave us an alibi, which he gave us for every interview we had in relation to the murder,
29:39saying he had been in Pap Daly State speaking to two named people.
29:45The police were asking him what route he took on his bike.
29:52He mentioned the fact that he'd heard the sirens.
29:54As I was heading home, that's when I heard sirens.
29:57Also, I didn't know the relevance of the sirens at the time.
30:01The first thing I knew was Eddie phoning me at work to say there's been a shooting,
30:08and the boys are in town on their bikes.
30:15I think he was maybe home by the time I got home, which would have been 9 o'clock-ish maybe, or just before.
30:22I want to hear that bit again.
30:29I end up showing them my, my, my, my, my, my knuckle, because there's a big bit of skin
30:36missing off my knuckle, because I've ever had hit him like it.
30:38That alibi was investigated by the police, and neither of the people who he named indicated
31:05that they had seen Michael on that particular night.
31:11They were quite categoric that they had not been speaking to him that night.
31:16Michael still maintained that that was the case, they must be mistaken.
31:24I think it was something like a 12-mile round trip.
31:27The cycle was for no purpose.
31:30He'd spent two minutes speaking to people, and then cycled all the way back.
31:34What I thought was perhaps significant about the alibi was how far away from the centre of Kirkwall that it put him.
31:47That it was, if you like, designed to make it impossible for him to have been in the centre of Kirkwall at the time.
31:54Michael says that he saw the two cadets around 7pm, yet both cadets say they didn't see him.
32:04But I've discovered a document that tells a very different story.
32:09This statement was given in 2008 by the cadet Michael claimed to have seen on the night of the murder.
32:19And it completely contradicted what he'd said to the police in 1994.
32:23Listen to this.
32:24My recollection of the interview in the car was that they, that's the police, were very keen to get me to say I had not seen Michael Ross.
32:35And there's more.
32:40It was clear in my mind that I should confirm that I did see Michael that night, when I was cutting grass, and that I did speak to him.
32:47I think that it was the night of the murder.
32:52I need to speak to the person who took this statement.
32:58Michael was keen for us to trace this guy and take a statement from him as to the night of the murder.
33:09He says that it was clear in my mind that I should confirm that I did see Michael that night, and that I did speak to him.
33:17I'm confused about what day I did see him.
33:20I definitely did see him and speak to him one night.
33:23I think it was the night of the murder.
33:28I did this, but I didn't believe what was said.
33:32I put a note at the end of this.
33:34The young man who obviously dislikes and distrusts the police, and seems eager to assist the client.
33:41He could be easily led or influenced either way.
33:45So this sheds a whole new light on Michael's alibi. Or does it?
33:52Did you believe that H saw Michael on the night of the alibi?
33:59No. No.
34:01You don't think Michael was there on the night?
34:03We're there as defence investigators.
34:07That doesn't mean to say we want to get him off at any cost.
34:13He's trying to help Michael. That's what he's trying to do.
34:17This happens all the time.
34:19I think he cycled that route. Like, what time did he do it at?
34:24I know you've never given your opinion.
34:28Do you think Michael killed Shimon?
34:37Yeah.
34:38Do you think he did?
34:40I think he did.
34:41I think he did.
34:46What makes you think that information that we've got?
34:53I went to England to trace a witness who had been there on the night, and we got a statement from that person.
35:01And based on that statement, yeah, I think, I think he did.
35:11I can't, I can't discuss.
35:13I can't discuss him.
35:14And that's, that's all I could say.
35:18This is incredible.
35:20So Michael's own defence investigator now believes that Michael killed Shimon.
35:27Although he clearly feels unable to explain what the evidence is.
35:32In a case that has continually thrown up surprises, this must be the biggest one yet.
35:37Just couldn't believe it.
35:56I was in the court.
35:58You phoned me.
36:01Well, I think you'd phone Colin to say, go home and sit with mum.
36:09It was an awful moment.
36:15Has justice been done?
36:18This morning, a war hero.
36:19Tonight, a convicted racist murderer.
36:22Michael Ross has been found guilty of shooting dead Shamsuddin Mahmood, a waiter at an Indian restaurant, in 1994.
36:28Michael was, of course, convicted at Glasgow High Court.
36:39Just after the jury gave its verdict, Michael did something that for many would be a far more simple and powerful demonstration of his guilt.
36:49As the verdict was handed down in court, there were astonishing scenes as the soldier made a bid for freedom.
36:59As the judge addressed Michael Ross, he escaped the attention of his prison officers and suddenly leapt from the dock.
37:04There were audible gasps in the court as he headed first towards the jury box and then out a side door.
37:10He made it as far as this fire exit before police officers managed to detain him.
37:15Right.
37:16I've been a journalist for quite a long time, but I've never come across anything like that happening.
37:24When the verdict came down, it was just a real shock to my sister.
37:32The automatic flight reaction to the situation just kicked down, so that's why I ended up jumping the dock and trying to run away.
37:40But Michael Ross's plans that day didn't end there.
37:48This seems to be the escape route Ross was hatching. After breaking out from the court, it appears he planned to head north.
37:55And it was to peer to the car park at this Tesco, in fact, that it stopped.
38:00Michael Ross was heading to pick up a hire car, which he dumped here some days previous.
38:04In its boot, a cache of weaponry.
38:07Was he planning to use this in order to kill again?
38:11In the boot, police discovered a loaded scorpion machine pistol ready to fire, which Michael had smuggled in the back of a TV when he returned from serving in Kosovo.
38:21They also discovered 545 rounds of ammunition, a grenade and more.
38:28Would he have gone on a killing spree in Glasgow? Would he head back to the Highlands and target anybody in the north?
38:35I don't know. I'll never know what's going through Michael's mind, but it certainly would be no good, because you wouldn't do any good with an arsenal like that.
38:44It's not for any good purpose, is it? You're not going to go and live rough with grenades and machine guns, are you?
38:51I just thought, oh God, dear God, Michael.
38:56It was desperation in my opinion.
39:01At that point in time, he's at the end of his tether, basically, you know.
39:06The press made a big thing, thinking that I was some sort of threat to the public at that time.
39:14Because of the weapons found in the car, I was a service soldier.
39:20I had regular access to assault rifles, pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles.
39:25At no point was there any risk or threat to the public.
39:30I mean, thinking behind going away and living away in the Highlands, I mean, the reality of this situation is I probably would have been caught fairly quickly as well.
39:39Michael made things extremely difficult for himself.
39:44The issue it comes back to, does it prove the guilt?
39:48Does his mindset at that time point to his mindset when he was 15?
39:53It doesn't prove anything at all.
39:54Where was the actual evidence that he had walked into that restaurant that day and committed that crime?
40:06There was evidence that it was somebody who was of a similar height to Michael Ross.
40:12There was evidence it was somebody of a similar build to Michael Ross.
40:15He didn't match the descriptions of the killer. The information in the case was shoehorned to fit the crime.
40:23There was evidence that it was somebody who was wearing a balaclava.
40:27We eventually homed it down to be Michael.
40:30Lots of us in Carex had balaclavas.
40:33It was a shooting with a handgun.
40:36We knew there was evidence that Michael Ross had access to handguns.
40:40Well, what kind of a gun was it? Nobody knows to this day exactly what it was.
40:44I looked at it on the floor and I could see just by a glance that it was a 9mm parambellum round.
40:51Then he spoke to me and he said, I have a box of 9mm bullets.
40:56I thought I was being of help.
40:58Somebody came out of the toilet.
41:00I knew it was Michael's face.
41:02Well, I believe this to be the gunman. That's the guy.
41:06And that's not Michael Ross.
41:08Calm, cool, no sweat.
41:11Which is what you need to be to walk into the restaurant and kill somebody at point blank range.
41:15Every single aspect of the killer's clothing, demeanour, walk fitted the description of Michael Ross.
41:25How unlucky can one person be?
41:28How could this have been a 15 year old boy?
41:32It's not the kind of crime that is committed by a 15 year old boy in Orkney.
41:36A man with a mask on came in. I thought he was into shooting everyone.
41:40As we took the mask off, we were all staring at Michael Ross.
41:47We were a normal family. We knew he didn't do it.
42:01I never thought we would be in a situation like this because Michael was brought up to understand right and wrong and always told to tell the truth.
42:16And, oh, just had many a cry to myself and, um, but the support that we've had from neighbours and family and friends has just been unreal.
42:32I can't say for certain whether Michael Ross killed Shamsuddin Mahmood or not.
42:46In the end, you're left with a lot of devastated lives.
42:51One man whose life has been brutally cut short.
42:55Another man who's been in prison for his life, who still claims he's innocent.
43:00And beyond that, the many others whose lives have been torn apart by that one minute in 1994 that changed everything.
43:11One man who's been murdered, this little girl was
43:12the investigator, which has broken the � bailout,
43:14and it's been very rich, rich and so before it was difficult.
43:16Transcription by CastingWords
43:46Transcription by CastingWords
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