Alistair Wilson (Unsolved Murder)

Nairn is a small Highland town situated on the North East coast of Scotland. In 2004 it was the home of Alistair and Veronica Wilson and their two young boys. At the end of November that year, 30 year old Alistair was about to begin his last week working for the Bank of Scotland before starting a new job. It was a Sunday evening, the Wilson children had just been bathed and Alistair was reading them a bedtime story when the front doorbell rang. Veronica went downstairs and opened the door. The unidentified visitor asked for her husband by name, presenting him with a mysterious envelope. Minutes later Alistair was slouched at the entrance to the house, suffering from three fatal gunshot wounds. His assassin walked away into the night. 

Almost two decades on The Doorstep Murder continues to draw speculation regarding numerous possible theories and potential suspects. Why would anyone want to harm this quiet, clever and devoted family man?

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Sources

For a full list of sources for this episode see the Facebook page

•  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-54500357.amp
•  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-doorstep-murder-cops-take-25177579.amp
•  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/12/son-of-banker-shot-dead-16-years-ago-says-his-family-deserves-answers
•  https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands-islands/2559112/alistair-wilson-timeline/ 
•  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7043907/amp/Could-20bn-scandal-assassination-banker-doorstep.html
•  https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands-islands/1899112/15-years-of-twists-and-turns-but-no-arrest-motive-or-suspect-in-the-alistair-wilson-murder-case/
•  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.scotsman.com/news/crime/scottish-football-club-linked-murder-nairn-banker-215122%3famp
•  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/242039/nairn-murder-of-banker-alistair-wilson-case-lead-after-john-beattie-rad

Transcript

Alistair Wilson

A young man, aged 20, sits on a chair in a tv studio, preparing to speak publicly for the first time about the day his life changed forever. His name is Andrew. He is placed to the right of the camera's frame, illuminated by a bright light as he talks to the interviewer, who is out of shot. The background is black and as Andrew talks with his Scottish lilt he is articulate, serious and sad. The memories he shares are from 16 years previously, when he was only four years old. He says that he missed out on so much during his childhood, because of what happened on the Sunday evening of the 28th November 2004. He has grown up without a father and he wants to know why. It’s the small things, he says, that really get to him. Never going to the football with his Dad, being taught to put on a tie, or going out together for his first pint.  Worst of all is that Andrew has only one memory of his father. In his mind’s eye he looks out from the hallway of their family home in Nairn in the Highlands of Scotland, and sees his Dad lying on the front doorstep covered in blood. As Andrew stares in shock and his mother phones for an ambulance, the unknown assassin walks calmly away into the night.

Persons Unknown is a true crime podcast dedicated to unsolved murders and disappearances. The podcast is based in Wales, UK and covers cases from Wales, the rest of the UK and the wider world. New episodes are released every other Monday. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Persons Unknown Podcast. For a list of sources please see the episode notes on your app. If you enjoy the podcast please give us a review and you can help others get to hear about Persons Unknown by sharing and recommending on social media. Thank you so much for listening. Now back to this week’s case.

Alistair Wilson was born on the 4th March 1974, and grew up in Beith, a small town of 6000 people in North Ayrshire. It's a beautiful part of the country and lies around 33km west of Glasgow. His parents were Alan and Joan Wilson and he had one older sister. Alistair was a bright and conscientious school pupil, attending Beith Primary and then Garnock Academy in nearby Kilbirnie. His teachers spoke highly of him, saying he was quiet and had impeccable manners. As a teenager he was a big music fan and loved spending time with friends and playing golf. 

Alistair knew what career path he wanted to take from an early age. At 18 he left home to study at Stirling University, graduating in 1996 with a degree in accountancy and business law. After University Alistair began a graduate placement working for the Bank of Scotland, based in a branch in Fort William. It was here he met and fell in love with German-born Veronica, a graphic designer three years older than him who had grown up in the West Highland town. The couple were besotted and were engaged within just six weeks of meeting.  Veronica put down the speed of their romance to the fact that Alisatair was so real, kind and honest. He had a character that encouraged people to trust him and even new acquaintances felt as though they knew him well. 

Following their marriage the couple moved to Peebles, a town in the Scottish borders, as Alistair became part of the Private Finance Initiative and Specialist Lending Department in Edinburgh, 36km away. They enjoyed their time there but were more than happy to relocate to Inverness in the North East of the country in 1999. 

Alistair’s new role in the bank was as a business manager based at the Beechwood Business Park, overseeing loans for small and medium sized  businesses across the whole north region. The couple first lived in Culloden and moved to Nairn in 2002. Nairn is an old fishing port and market town in the North East of Scotland and is 27km from the city of Inverness. 

Alistair and Veronica decided to try a new venture, going into business with Veronica’s brother. Nairn is a popular tourist destination and the three budding entrepreneurs attempted to capitalise on this, buying a beautiful property that overlooked the Moray Firth and starting up a restaurant and hotel. The large Victorian property called Lothian House cost in the region of £380,000 and stood on Crescent Road, a quiet, affluent street off the main thoroughfare. They hoped that their new project would be as successful as the popular Havelock Hotel which was directly opposite. Unfortunately the venture lasted for only nine months before the business closed. During this time the Wilson family lived above the restuarant and when the short-lived business ceased to trade, the family continued to stay there.

In 2004, at surface level, life seemed to be going well for 30 year old Alistair and 33 year old Veronica. Alistair had gotten a promotion in work and was now the lead in the business banking team. The biggest change in their circumstances had been the arrival of two children, both boys. The eldest was four and had started school in September  whilst the youngest was only two and still at nursery. Alistair loved being a dad and although he now had less time for playing golf, he enjoyed spending his weekends and evenings playing with his children, taking them out for walks on the nearby beach or playing games and reading stories with them in the house. 

Alistair was good at his job but recently he had become a little dissatisfied with things at what was now called Halifax Bank of Scotland, after the merger between the Halifax Building society and Bank of Scotland in 2001. A loan had fallen through for an Orkney based company and he felt that he'd let the company down. This disappointment coupled with limited prospects for future promotion meant Alistair started to look around for new opportunities and a fresh challenge. It wasn't long before he secured a new job as regional director for an environmental research and consultancy firm. Alistair was due to start the new role in the second week of December. From the outside Alistair's life seemed ordinary, and enjoyable. The family weren't rich but they did not have money worries, they were not in debt and seemed to have a good work/family balance. It makes what happened on Sunday 28th of November 2004 all the more perplexing and frightening.

The weekend in question had been a busy one. Friends had come to stay on Saturday night and the couple had spent much of the afternoon tidying the house ready for their visitors. In the evening, when the children were in bed, they had an enjoyable evening with their visitors, eating, drinking and catching up. The following day Alistair and the other father took the older children for an adventure in some local woods, and Veronica and her friend took the smaller children to a soft play centre. They all met up for lunch, and their friends left in the mid-afternoon.

A little later, Alistair, together with his eldest son, popped out to pick up some shopping, do the recycling and take the car to the carwash. On their return the family ate dinner. At this time Veronica's father was also staying with them and occupied the apartment at the top of the house, so he ate with the family. There was another child in the house, whom they were babysitting for friends. From what I’ve read it's not clear how long this child, who was 18 months old, had been in the house. I assume it had been for a couple of hours rather than all weekend. They were expecting the parents to collect the child that evening.

At 7.00pm the two Wilson boys had just finished having their bath. The pair got into their pyjamas and Alistair was in the middle of reading them their bedtime stories, with one son balanced on each knee, when the doorbell rang. Veronica went downstairs to answer it. When she opened the door a stocky man aged between 30 and 40 stood before her. He was not tall, between 5ft4 and 5ft 7 inches in height and was wearing blue jeans, a blue blouson, puffer-style jacket and a baseball cap. The cap was pulled down low, hiding his face, but Veronica could make out that he was clean shaven. The man asked for her husband by name. To clarify he literally just said the name “Alistair Wilson”. There was no introduction or explanation of any kind. Veronica went back upstairs to fetch her husband, leaving the front door open. Alistair was surprised that the man had asked for him but left the children with his wife and went downstairs to meet this unidentified man.

Veronica said there was then a two to three minute discussion between the visitor and Alistair, though it was too muffled for her to hear what it was about. AIistair then shut the front door and returned upstairs looking confused and clutching a blue envelope, about a quarter of the size of A4, similar to one for a birthday card. On the envelope was written the name “Paul”. He showed his wife the envelope, it was clearly empty. He asked Veronica if she was sure the man had asked for him. She answered yes. The couple talked briefly about the situation. Alistair was baffled by three things. The name on the envelope - Veronica said it seemed to mean nothing to him - the fact it wasn't addressed to him, and that it was empty. Still looking perplexed, he said he was going to see if the visitor was still there and ask for an explanation about the mysterious envelope. Veronica says that during this exchange with her husband  he did not appear frightened, stressed or afraid, just puzzled. She also had felt no fear or suspicion when she answered the door, assuming that it was probably going to be something to do with Alistair's work. Alistair went back downstairs and opened the front door again.

A short time later Veronica heard three loud noises, which she described as being like wooden pallets being dropped forcefully onto the ground. She rushed downstairs to find Alistair slouched, wounded on the doorstep covered in blood.  She looked up to see the man that she had opened the door to, walking away down the street  to her left. The noises she had heard were gunshots, and Alistair  had two wounds to his face and one to the body. Despite this, Alistair was not dead, he was still clinging to life. He managed to say some words but the only thing Veronica understood was him asking for an ambulance. Veronica dialled 999 and while she was still on the phone ran across the road to the Havelock Hotel to ask for assistance. By the time the ambulance arrived four people were already at the scene attempting to help Alistair. A local businessman, two police officers and an off duty nurse who was trying to administer first aid. Alistair Wilson was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness but was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. The blue envelope was not recovered at the scene and it was not found in the pockets of Alistair’s clothing. Presumably the killer had taken it with him. It has never been found.

The town of Nairn was grief-stricken and in utter shock. The newspapers were full of quotes from local residents saying they could not believe something like this had happened here. For a killing that bore the hallmarks of a professional hit or gangland assination to have taken place in an out of the way seaside town like Nairn was unheard of. For what possible reason would anyone want Alistair Wilson dead? A remembrance service was held in December for the community  to come together but the family would have to wait until April 6th the following year for Alistair’s funeral, which took place at  St Andrews Episcopal Church in Fort William. 

With no obvious motive and strange circumstances surrounding the murder, the police were desperate to find some information that would at least give them a lead to follow. Within the first week roadblocks were set up across Nairn to quiz motorists and pedestrians alike. Surely someone local would know something. A £10,000 reward was established for information that led to the conviction of the murderer. Precious little was discovered, although two witnesses who were across the road from the Wilson property at 7.00pm on the night of the murder came forward to say that they remembered seeing Veronica Wilson talking to a man on her doorstep. They did not see his face as he had his back turned to them.  

A person also came forward to say he thought he may have been on a bus with the unidentified assassin shortly before the murder. Tommy Hogg said he and his wife were travelling on a bus from Inverness to Nairn and a man was sitting a few rows behind them who was acting strangely. The man had got on to the bus at Inverness bus station. He was jumpy and looked ill at ease. Everytime Mr Hogg made eye contact with him he would look away and turn his head. The description of the man is similar to the one given by Veronica. Mr Hogg noticed he was very neatly presented, as though he had just stepped out of a bath. This lead was investigated but police have said they were able to trace the man on the bus and rule him out as a suspect. Mr Hogg still thinks the man he saw had something to do with the murder and says an e-fit was drawn up of the man but it has never been released. An e-fit was also drawn up based on the description given by Veronica Wilson. This was done as a result of Veronica undergoing hypnosis, which Police said did provide some more details. This too has not been released to the public. 

Ten days after the murder the investigation was granted some good favour, when  a longstanding local dispute over a blocked street drain finally forced the council to attempt to clear the blockage. Roadsweeper Charles McLachlan was working on Seabank road about 1.5km away from the Wilson house when something got caught in the machine he was using to clear the roadside gully. It was a small gun that McLachen described in an interview with the Press and Journal in 2014 as no bigger than his palm. He thought it was a toy when he first saw it and admitted when he reported it to the  police he did not realise the significance of his find. The police were quickly able to confirm through forensic and ballistic testing that it was the weapon which had killed Alistair. It was tested for fingerprints and DNA but there were no traces of either. This could be because the gun had been exposed to drain water for so long or it could be that the killer took precautions. 

The gun itself remains the most significant clue in this investigation, as it is very unusual and not commonly found in the UK. It is a Haenel Suhl Model 1 Schmeisser semi-automatic pistol.  It's a tiny gun, only around 11 cm long and weighing less than ½ kg, with a distinctive H and S embossed on the handle.  The gun is commonly referred to by its nicknames of “ladies pistol”, “handbag gun” or pocket pistol. It’s often seen in older films and tv programs and is associated with being worn in a thigh holster. The gun was very old, made in the east of Germany during the 1920’s or 1930’s. Only around a dozen of these guns have been found in the UK over the last 12 years. The ammunition used was also very rare. The bullets were .25 and made by Sellier and Bellot between 1983 and 1993 in what is now the Czech Republic. It was not the usual ammunition used with this weapon. 

Police speculated that the gun may have been brought to the UK after the second world war as a souvenir by a soldier, although in 2006 police said they believed the weapon had been smuggled into the country at a later date. That same year the police sent a team to Germany and the Czech Republic to try and trace its source. They later revealed that they had discovered the person who originally sold the gun, but their records did not go back far enough to pinpoint who the buyer was. While it was good to have something solid to investigate, if anything, the facts uncovered about the gun and its origin made the case even more mysterious. 

In the first few months of the investigation Alistair’s work and private life were gone over with a fine tooth comb to try and find something that may provide a motive for his murder. Try as they might they could find no hidden dark side to Alistair. His colleagues spoke incredibly highly of him and there was no hint of impropriety at work - Alistair operated honestly. One woman who had worked closely with Alistair on a number of projects described him as squeaky clean. In his private finances there were no irregularities or gambling problems. Police say to this day that there is no evidence that he was involved in illegal business practices. There was also nothing to suggest any infidelity in his marriage. 

With no obvious suspect it wasn’t long before whispers began to spread about Veronica Wilson. Alistair had not left a will, which meant that the legal process following his death was complicated. Veronica had to make an application to the Inverness Sheriff Court to be the executor of his estate. In total she inherited in excess of £130,000, which included his share of the house they had bought. It also included unpaid work bonuses, and around £6000 in a personal bank account. Obviously this is a lot of money, but it’s not a staggering amount of money. Still some thought it could be motive enough for murder.

 In February 2005 Veronica made a statement denying any involvement in her husband's death.Twelve month on, in an article in The Independent, Detective Chief Inspector Peter MacPhee said it is normal for people to speculate about whether Veronica Wilson was involved in the crime, but said that both she and other close members of the family were thoroughly looked into. There was nothing to suggest any of them were involved. Veronica herself has said she can understand why people would view her with suspicion but says this is because they didn’t know the loving, caring relationship the couple shared. How could she take the father of her children away from them?

The first year of the investigation saw more than 60 officers work the case. 383 homes were visited with almost 3000 witness statements taken and over 3500 people interviewed. 6000 names were looked into and 200 DNA samples collected and tested. Countless documents were inspected and over 500 cars were checked. In the three years after the murder the Grampian police reviewed the evidence collected by the Northern Constabulary detectives twice, but came up with nothing new. 

During the almost two decades since  the police have launched fresh appeals for information numerous times. A drive was instigated in 2007 to collect more DNA samples and 1000 men have now had samples taken in relation to this crime. 19 separate DNA profiles were found by the front door. All but one were able to be identified. As technology has improved, a cigarette stub found near the scene has been retested. In 2005 a DNA profile could not be found on it; now a full profile has been revealed, but remains unidentified. 670 separate CCTV sources have now been studied but nothing of note has been discovered. Unfortunately the camera that looked out from the Havelock Hotel and may have provided the best hope of revealing something was not working on the day of the murder.

This investigation has taken detectives all round the UK and Ireland, the Channel Islands and to mainland Europe but, 17 years on, there are still no answers for the Wilson family; the killer and his motive remain unknown. There are many ideas about who killed Alistair and why, some of which are more plausible than others. Many overlap, with one or two bordering on conspiracy theory. It is a strange and unusual murder, perhaps the answer to this mystery may be as unbelievable as the crime itself. 

The feud

A month or so after the murder a local council planning meeting fell silent when Alistair Wilson’s objections regarding a neighbour’s garden improvements were read out posthumously. I’m not going to name the neighbour or go into details about the dispute as I can't find sources that say police ever considered this to be related to Alistair’s death. The story of a neighbourhood feud did appear in newspapers shortly after the murder but it seemed to be mostly journalists grasping at straws, trying to hint at a possible motive.

The IRA

Early on the investigation team looked into the possibility that Alistair’s death could be terrorist-related. The way he had been killed mimicked an assination tactic used by the IRA in Northern Ireland. In December 2004, less than a month following the murder, a large bank robbery took place in Belfast, which was allegedly undertaken by the Provisional IRA.  The People newspaper proposed the idea that Alistair had been approached during the planning of the heist to help launder the stolen money but had refused to do so and was killed. Police were quoted in the press at the time as not ruling out the possibility that the two incidents were related. No evidence was found of a connection. This is not the only theory to make reference to dissident terrorist groups from Northern Ireland. More on that in a moment.

Gangland loan sharks

In the Summer of 2007 The Herald Newspaper ran a story suggesting that Alistair was murdered because of a debt he could not repay. According to this theory Alistair had borrowed £50,000 from Glasgow based loan sharks for a business venture. It is not known what this business venture was. When he was unable to meet the payments he was executed. Was the envelope meant to be returned to the visitor on the doorstep with cash inside? No hard evidence has ever been found to back this theory up and at the time of these rumours the police would not comment.

Nate the Armchair detective 

An armchair detective known only as “Nate” contacted criminologist Professor David Wilson from Birmingham University in 2017 and provided him with a file containing his research and thoughts on the case. Professor Wilson had previously worked on other doorstep murders such as that of TV presenter Jill Dando in 1999 and Glasgow gangster Frank McPhie in 2000. He was so impressed by Nate’s work he went to the press with it. Nate’s theory was that the murder was linked to the criminal underworld. The hypothesis being that perhaps Alistair got involved during the time his restaurant business venture turned sour. Proffessor Wilson wonders whether the murderer was expecting Alistair to return with the envelope filled with banking documents or cash.

Peter Bleksley and Livingston Football club

Peter Bleksley is an ex-detective with 21 years experience with the Metropolitan police. He was instrumental in establishing SO10, Scotland Yard’s undercover unit. He is currently a TV presenter and in 2018 published the book “To Catch a Killer: My Hunt for the Truth Behind the Doorstep Murder”. This book did a lot to reignite the case and put forward several new ideas. Bleksley was quite critical of the original investigation and has said he has found dealing with Police Scotland difficult. Veronica Wilson has not been willing to cooperate with Bleksley, which he puts down to advice given to her by Scotland police.

He says some in the police have been poor in sharing information and granting interviews. For their part, the police have criticised Bleksley for not being open with them. It's hard to know what to make of it, I guess there are a lot of egos involved and people don't like being criticised.

In the book, Beksley says the murder could be linked to the finances of Livingston Football club. In February 2004 the club went into administration with debts of around £7 million. Many staff lost their jobs, including playing staff. The bank that forced them into administration was Alistair’s employer, the Bank of Scotland. Peter Bleksley says that while the club went through a successful spell on the pitch during the early noughties the finances at the club have been in a dire state for years. He says he undertook a lot of research and passed on a lot of complicated financial information to the police. The police for their part said they had reached out to Bleksley but he had not provided them with anything worthwhile. Bleksley says his work on the case leads him to believe that some people working in the banking sphere in central scotland know without doubt that this was what lay at the root of the murder.

Bleksley believes that the gunman didnt go to the house to murder Alistair but to negotiate with him. The gun was there to threaten, but something went wrong. Did the gunmen extend an offer he wasn’t expecting Alistair to turn down? Bleksley wonders if he was told not to leave his job, as he was scheduled to do at the end of the week. Things didn't go to plan and the gunman opened fire before escaping, possibly in a getaway car driven by an accomplice. He points to the fact that the main A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road was very close and that the location where the gun was found would indicate that it was dropped from the passenger side of a car. Bleksley is convinced that the murder does have soemthing to do with Alistair’s job in financial services and is pushing for a forensic accountant to go through all of Alistair’s work. 

Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS)

In 2004, Paul Moore was head of risk management at the company Alistair was employed by, HBOS. Weeks before Alistair was killed,  Paul Moore lost his job, as he spoke out about a financial scandal involving a loan strategy at HBOS which would eventually require a £20.5 billion taxpayer bailout. Moore says that there were powerful people who would have done anything to stop the scandal coming out. He even concedes the possibility that he may have been the “Paul” that the name on the envelope was referring to, though he says he had never met Alistair and did not know him.  Peter Bleksley agrees that Moore may be the Paul from the envelope and has said the possibility exists that Alistair found out something and was about to speak to Paul Moore and become a whistleblower but was killed before he had the chance. When Moore came out with this information in May 2019 the police said they could not rule out that he was the Paul from the envelope but would not comment on the allegations.

The Dutch Charity Worker

The Daily Express reported in 2011 about a Dutch charity worker who claimed to have met a Scottish man abroad who said they knew the name of the person who had killed Alistair. The Scottish man had said he was from the Highlands and had fled to China following the murder, leaving his family behind because he was in fear of his life. The Dutch man is said to have given the name of the man he met and also the name of the killer to the police. According to the Dutch man the root of the murder was money laundering.

The Loyalist Paramilitary

On  November 28th 2016, BBC Scotland presenter John Beattie was in the middle of hosting a radio phone show about the doorstep murder, as the crime has come to be known. It was the 12th anniversary of Alistair’s death and Beattie was interviewing the criminologist Professor David Wilson to comb through the details of the case and share his professional opinion on what he thought had happened. An individual called into the show speaking to the producer and telling him he had information about the murder. The caller didn’t go on air but left a telephone number for Beattie to phone him back. The man didn't give his name and would only say he was from somewhere in Scotland. When Beattie called back the man he was said to have sounded scared.  The anonymous  man is referred to simply as Peter. Peter had numerous phone calls with Beattie and told him this story:

Peter says he has a friend who told him he knows who murdered Alistair. The friend, who is often referred to as “Andrew”, said he had been doing some work with a businessman who had connections to a loyalist paramilitary from Northern Ireland. The Bank of Scotland was providing banking services for at least one of this businessman's companies. Andrew said he started to get suspicious about what kind of work the businessman was conducting with the loyalist paramilitary. When he started asking questions Andrew said he and his family were threatened by the paramilitary, who made the point that he had access to firearms.

A BBC investigative journalist, Fiona Walker, got involved and spoke to Peter several times over an 18 month period. Peter would never put her in direct contact with Andrew, but she says some of the information he gave was definitely true. However she could never uncover any solid evidence of a conspiracy involved in Alistair’s murder. Fiona Walker reached out to Veronica Wilson to see if she would be interviewed about Peter’s story. She did agree to meet with her but said she didn't think what he claimed seemed very plausible. Veronica added that the whole scenario seems unbelievable so every possible angle should be investigated. The police have said they made contact with the businessman that Peter mentioned but that he has not been interviewed as a suspect. His name has never been made public) 

A local resident

Nairn was such a close knit community and the murder truly ripped the heart out of the town. Many residents speak of how the tragic events of that November evening in 2004 changed the seaside town forever. Violent crime was rare. The only other murder that had occured in the town happened in 1986 and was the result of an argument at a wedding party. There has always been the shocking prospect that the killer was a local resident.  One piece of evidence that could point to that is the murder weapon. As I have already mentioned it is a very rare gun and only around a dozen have been found in the UK but three are connected to Nairn. The exact model of gun used in the murder was found in a house clearance sale in Nairn in August 2016 and another similar gun, made by the manufacturer Melior Brevets, was handed in to police in the town. Police have said that these guns are not connected to the murder of Alistair but it is quite a coincidence that two similar and very rare guns were found in this little highland town. 

Shaun Douglas

In 2018, police announced that they were trying to trace a former neighbour of the Wilson’s, Shaun Douglas, with the purpose of questioning him. His name had come up in the cold case review that took place in 2017 and was mentioned in Peter Bleksley’s book on the case. Apparently he left the country just weeks after the murder and has not been seen since. It is believed he travelled to North America and spent time in Alaska and Canada, but despite the police's best efforts they have not been able to find him. He was never interviewed before he left to go overseas and, according to his brother in an article in the Daily Record in 2018, he also refused to give a sample of his DNA.

His father and brother have made appeals for him to come forward, with no luck, although his father has made it clear he doesn't think his son capable of a crime like this, saying he was not a violent person.The Daily Record reported in 2018  that he had been seen back in Scotland, specifically in Inverness, but he has still not been found.

An inside job

Peter Bleksley talks of one strange occurrence during a fact finding trip to Nirn in 2009. He had been in the town asking lots of questions about the case in an attempt to find a lead. One day he visited a local pub and, when he was using the toilets at the establishment a voice warned him from behind not to turn around. The anonymous person then said that the murder of Alistair had been an inside job but we just couldn’t prove it. The person left before he could be asked further questions and the man did not elaborate on exactly what  an inside job meant. Did this refer to Alistair’s work, his friends, or family? It was too vague to be certain. Bleksley is pretty confident the person who gave him that information was in some way connected to the police, as he knows for a fact there were several police officers in the pub that day.

Mistaken Identity

Veronica Wilson is sure that she knew her husband and that he had no secrets. She is convinced that if Alistair had survived he would not have been able to say why he had been attacked. She is sure from the look on his face when he came back inside the house with the envelope that he was just as puzzled as she was about what it meant. Why would he have returned to the front door to see if the mysterious man was still there if he feared for his life? Veronica thinks it was a case of mistaken identity. The idea that this was a hit on the wrong Alistair Wilson can not be completely ruled out. It’s not an unusual name and the police did speak to several people around Scotland who shared the name. A man who lived only a street or so away also had that name, but both he and the police couldn't think of a reason why he may have been targeted. That man has since passed away. If this theory is correct, it would definitely imply that the man who pulled the trigger did not know Alistair and was acting on the orders of someone else. For this to be the outcome there would have had to have been a string of monumental errors by the gunman in terms of his preparation. 

The forensic psychologist

Forensic psychologist Claire Hooten spends her working life researching and re-examing cold cases, and has spent 2019 to 2021 investigating Alistair’s murder.  She thinks that the blue envelope handed to Alistair is the key to solving the case, and believes he was supposed to place something inside it. She is urging Police Scotland to change their tactics, as she believes the murder had nothing to do with Alistair’s work and that it definitely wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. She is sure Alistair was the intended target and thinks there could well have been more than one person at the Wilson’s front door on that evening. Hooten suspects local involvement and says police need to look into people named Paul from the area at the time. She believes the person may have even had a birthday around the time of the murder. 

This case throws up so many questions, particularly the 5 or so minutes leading up to Alistair’s death. If the man at the door was a contract killer, why not shoot him as soon as he came to the door? Why hang around outside the door after Alisatir had gone inside with the blue envelope if he wasn’t expected to come back? How did he know he was going to come back? Had Alistair told him to wait?The local police station was only 90m away. Does this indicate someone who was confident and experienced in this kind of crime? 

The press interview given by Alisator’s son Andrew in 2020 showed the impact his father’s murder has had on both him and his younger brother. It definitely gave a jolt to see the once small boy speaking so candidly about the loss of his father. The investigation continues with a handful of dedicated officers. In October 2021 the police announced that they had taken 164 new statements. The search to discover who killed Alistair Wilson and why continues, and the police say they are keeping an open mind. I believe that one day answers will be found.

If you have any information about the murder of Alistair Wilson you can conatct The Police Scotland enquiry team on 0131 3115916 or email: operationsorn@scotland.pnn.police.uk.

Alternatively if you would rather remain anonymous you can call Crimetoppers on 0800 555 111.