An accountant buddy of murdered banker Alistair Wilson believes the important thing to fixing the baffling case is within the lifeless man’s monetary affairs.
Stewart Walker mentioned he's not satisfied Police Scotland ’s new focus, a neighbourhood planning row, would have led to the 30-year-old dad being gunned down on his doorstep in Nairn nearly 18 years in the past.
Stewart mentioned the clue to fixing considered one of Scotland’s greatest homicide hunts should lie in Alistair’s personal financial institution accounts.
The chartered accountant bought to know Alistair and spouse Veronica when he stayed at their household house Lothian Home once they had been working it as a resort.
He mentioned: “In 2004 Alistair knowledgeable me he had determined to shut the enterprise down and use it as a household house.
“I've at all times believed the police ought to be specializing in his funds. When the police reopened the investigation in 2014, I used to be later interviewed.”
Stewart believes detectives want to have a look at how Alistair financed the acquisition of Lothian Home in 2002. He mentioned: “It might have required a chartered accountant with expertise to identify any suspicious transactions.
“Alistair appeared to haven't any enemies in his social life. He at all times gave me the impression of being a quiet, loving household man.
“This due to this fact factors to a motive probably linked to his enterprise and his work as a banker.”
Stewart, 80, from Glasgow, labored as a chartered accountant for 50 years, investigating failing corporations and discovering anomalies in accounts and monetary information.
He mentioned: “They need to look once more at Alistair’s work schedule six months earlier than he purchased the property as much as his demise.
“Loans granted throughout that point to the financial institution’s enterprise purchasers, as authorised by Alistair, ought to be checked intimately. Any loans recalled or companies liquidated – of financial institution purchasers dealt with by him – also needs to be investigated.” Police Scotland final week revealed they imagine the homicide could possibly be linked to a planning dispute over decking on the Havelock Home Lodge instantly reverse the Wilsons’ house.
On the time the resort was owned by Guernsey-born Andy Burnett, now a key witness within the case, who used to golf with Alistair.
We advised final week how Burnett was on the scene of the taking pictures inside minutes, helped medics get him into the ambulance and comforted a distressed Veronica.
It emerged that Alistair had written a letter to council bosses objecting to Burnett’s software for retrospective planning
permission for decking after being disturbed by drunks and discovering damaged glass in his backyard.
Detectives from Police Scotland earlier this 12 months travelled to Nova Scotia in Canada to interview Burnett in regards to the dispute.
The 55-year-old emigrated in 2013 together with his spouse Lynn, 48, and household after promoting the Havelock.
Alistair was killed on November 28, 2004, at about 7pm after Veronica, then 33, answered the door to a stocky man aged 20 to 40 sporting a baseball cap, who requested for her husband by title.
The financial institution boss went downstairs to talk to the person and was handed an empty blue envelope with the title Paul on it. He went inside, then returned to the door the place he was shot thrice.
Alistair, who had resigned as enterprise supervisor on the Financial institution of Scotland, was because of start a publish with an environmental
consultancy agency.
Within the days after the homicide, police believed it could have had one thing to do together with his job however officers answerable for the chilly case are specializing in the planning software dispute.
Burnett has made it clear he's not a suspect and by no means has been. Police are eager for details about who labored on the decking on the resort and any individuals within the space on the time.
A Police Scotland spokesman mentioned: “Via important inquiries, we imagine the reply to Alistair’s homicide lies inside his private life and isn't linked to his employment with the Financial institution of Scotland.”
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