Post by hi224 on Aug 12, 2019 23:18:27 GMT
Here's a strange murder from Nairn in the Scottish Highlands. It's been 15 years without an ending to this story. His children will be about 17-19 by now and still don't know why their father was killed.
A banker shot on his doorstep while his wife and children are upstairs, killed by someone who asked for him by name but has never been identified. Killed with a vintage pistol. And what was the mysterious blue envelope about?
'Alistair Wilson, 30, was shot dead on the doorstep of his home in Crescent Road, Nairn near Inverness in November 2004 one Sunday evening after his wife opened their door to the killer. The killer had asked for Wilson by name, and then handed an envelope to Wilson, who took it back inside briefly before returning to the door where he was gunned down; it is unknown what was inside as the killer took it with him when he fled. Police revealed that the gun that killed Wilson was a rare CG Haenel Waffen 1920s pistol, often referred to as a "ladies" gun, and manufactured in Germany.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_murders_in_the_United_Kingdom#1980s)
So it's 7pm on a Sunday and Alistair Wilson and his wife are at home putting their kids to bed. The doorbell rings and the wife (Veronica) goes down to answer it. The guy at the door just says 'Alistair Wilson' so she goes and gets him - she goes upstairs the children. He comes back up after a few minutes with a blue 'birthday card' type envelope with the name 'Paul' on it. The envelope is empty. He's baffled. He checks with his wife that the guy definitely asked for him....he goes back downstairs and then there's 3 gun shots. The mysterious guy just walks away. Alistair dies in hospital. The blue envelope is gone - taken by the killer.
The gun is found 10 days later by council workers who find it in a drain a few streets away. The gun is a particular kind of german made pistol that was occasionally brought back after the war by returning soldiers - another one was found in the home of a former POW also in Nairn in 2016. So not really a weapon you'd associate with gangsters or dirty money or any of the typical motives for murdering a banker.
Also - he worked in loans for small to medium businesses in the West Coast of Scotland - not really a high risk area of lending. He was about 2 weeks away from leaving that job and had taken a new one with an 'environmental consultancy'.
There's an interesting podcast linked in that BBC piece - covers all the allegations surrounding links to Glasgow gangsters, that PAUL was not a name but stood for 'Pay And U Live' etc.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_doorstep_murder_alistair_wilson
And who is Nate?? The amateur investigator who was in contact with the podcasters and sent information to Professor David Wilson (no relation) He seems to have collected a lot of information on the case and built a pretty decent theory around this being a professional hit related to white collar crime. www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/15668012.leading-criminologist-professor-david-wilson-on-the-unsolved-murder-of-nairn-bank-manager-alistair-wilson/
Edit - going to point out two strange things about the way this crime was carried out -
The back door was open. If the killer wanted he could have snuck in the back and laid in wait for Alistair to come downstairs. Instead he knocked on the door and risked the wife seeing his face and recognising him. OR any of the neighbours seeing him.
The killer then casually WALKED away. He didn't run. He didn't have a car waiting. He just turned and walked away.
A banker shot on his doorstep while his wife and children are upstairs, killed by someone who asked for him by name but has never been identified. Killed with a vintage pistol. And what was the mysterious blue envelope about?
'Alistair Wilson, 30, was shot dead on the doorstep of his home in Crescent Road, Nairn near Inverness in November 2004 one Sunday evening after his wife opened their door to the killer. The killer had asked for Wilson by name, and then handed an envelope to Wilson, who took it back inside briefly before returning to the door where he was gunned down; it is unknown what was inside as the killer took it with him when he fled. Police revealed that the gun that killed Wilson was a rare CG Haenel Waffen 1920s pistol, often referred to as a "ladies" gun, and manufactured in Germany.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_murders_in_the_United_Kingdom#1980s)
So it's 7pm on a Sunday and Alistair Wilson and his wife are at home putting their kids to bed. The doorbell rings and the wife (Veronica) goes down to answer it. The guy at the door just says 'Alistair Wilson' so she goes and gets him - she goes upstairs the children. He comes back up after a few minutes with a blue 'birthday card' type envelope with the name 'Paul' on it. The envelope is empty. He's baffled. He checks with his wife that the guy definitely asked for him....he goes back downstairs and then there's 3 gun shots. The mysterious guy just walks away. Alistair dies in hospital. The blue envelope is gone - taken by the killer.
The gun is found 10 days later by council workers who find it in a drain a few streets away. The gun is a particular kind of german made pistol that was occasionally brought back after the war by returning soldiers - another one was found in the home of a former POW also in Nairn in 2016. So not really a weapon you'd associate with gangsters or dirty money or any of the typical motives for murdering a banker.
Also - he worked in loans for small to medium businesses in the West Coast of Scotland - not really a high risk area of lending. He was about 2 weeks away from leaving that job and had taken a new one with an 'environmental consultancy'.
There's an interesting podcast linked in that BBC piece - covers all the allegations surrounding links to Glasgow gangsters, that PAUL was not a name but stood for 'Pay And U Live' etc.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_doorstep_murder_alistair_wilson
And who is Nate?? The amateur investigator who was in contact with the podcasters and sent information to Professor David Wilson (no relation) He seems to have collected a lot of information on the case and built a pretty decent theory around this being a professional hit related to white collar crime. www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/15668012.leading-criminologist-professor-david-wilson-on-the-unsolved-murder-of-nairn-bank-manager-alistair-wilson/
Edit - going to point out two strange things about the way this crime was carried out -
The back door was open. If the killer wanted he could have snuck in the back and laid in wait for Alistair to come downstairs. Instead he knocked on the door and risked the wife seeing his face and recognising him. OR any of the neighbours seeing him.
The killer then casually WALKED away. He didn't run. He didn't have a car waiting. He just turned and walked away.