Smoking ban may be linked to murder of banker Alistair Wilson as cops launch fresh appeal 18 years later
A BITTER smoker may have been behind the murder of Alistair Wilson, we can reveal.
Cops are convinced the motive for the doorstep shooting is a dispute over decking at a bar next to the banker’s home in Nairn, Moray.
He was gunned down on November 28, 2004, when the Scottish Government’s proposed cigarettes ban was looming over the pub trade.
Detective Superintendent Graeme Mackie said: “We understand a lot of the locals were invested in the decking because they helped build it, they helped put it together and there would have been a sense of community.
“And this was around the time of the smoking ban with people probably feeling this is an area they could go and enjoy a drink while having a cigarette — and this might be getting taken away from them.
“So we do believe there would have been a strength of feeling. They may well have been aggrieved by that fact.
“What we need to understand is who was in the pub that weekend and can anybody recall any conversations that they were concerned of at that time.”
Det Supt Mackie spoke to The Scottish Sun as part of a fresh appeal 18 years to the day Alistair was shot.
The murder quad cops who nailed Renee MacRae’s killer have nmow set their sights on snaring the doorstep assassin who gunned down Alistair.
Many of the same crimebusters who brought William MacDowell to justice after 46 years have been tasked with solving the 2004 killing.
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Speaking on the 18th anniversary of the horror, Det Supt Mackie insisted his team won’t rest until the gunman is jailed.
He said: “Many of the detectives involved in the Renee MacRae investigation are on this inquiry too.
“It’s an experienced team with a track record in reinvestigating historic murders and a determination to get justice for the families.”
Cops involved in the probe believe drinkers in a bar next door to Alistair’s home in Nairn, Moray, hold the key to solving his murder.
And they say the key to cracking the case lies with a planning dispute over decking at the Havelock Hotel — which the banker, 30, objected to.
Det Supt Mackie said: “The Havelock at that time was a popular venue. Alistair had spoken to the licensee and they were known to one another.
“We’ve interviewed a lot of people who were in that pub that night. There was a level of conversation about being upset towards Alistair.
“We want to find out if, during that weekend, was anybody making any threats? Was anybody speaking about taking action against Alistair?”
Det Supt Mackie and colleague Detective Inspector Gary Winter hope a new telly documentary will jog memories.
Both contributed to Channel 5’s Murder on the Doorstep: Who Killed Alistair Wilson?
The dad of two was shot three times at point-blank range.
The killer handed over a blue envelope with the name Paul on it before blasting him with a 1920s German-made pocket pistol later found discarded in a nearby drain.
Wife Veronica and their two boys, then two and four, were at home when the hitman left the Bank of Scotland business manager for dead before vanishing into the night.
Det Insp Winter and the team have homed in on the fact locals at the Havelock were made aware of Alistair’s objection to the decking two days before the killing.
He said: “Because the hotel is a listed building the landlord needed planning permission. He applied at the start of November.
"Then Alistair wrote an objection letter and sent it off to the planning department on the week of the murder.
"A copy arrived at the landlord on Friday, November 26, 2004, two days before the murder.”
We told in February how officers travelled to Nova Scotia, Canada, to interview Andy Burnet, 55, the former landlord of the Havelock Hotel.
In April Mr Burnet — described by cops as a key witness — told The Scottish Sun officers wanted to talk to him about another person. He said they spent four days speaking to him at the home he shares with wife Lynn, 48.
He said: “They were thorough. I’m not a suspect, I never have been.”
Mr Burnet, who left Scotland in 2013, said police were keen to know about an individual from Nairn.
He said: “They had a discussion with me about something I don’t really want to talk to you about.
"It had no relation to me other than somebody they thought I might have known.
"I didn’t particularly know them. I think they got the information they were looking for.”
Det Supt Mackie said: “Homicides often come from totally disproportionate, irrational reasons — trivial matters escalate to disproportionate levels.”
In September, William MacDowell, 80, was jailed for 30 years after being found guilty of murdering his lover Renee MacRae, 36, and their son Andrew, three, in the Highlands in 1976. The victims’ remains have never been found.
Licensee ‘annoyed’ at decks objection
The licensee of the Havelock Hotel was “animated” and “annoyed” at Alistair Wilson objecting to a planning application for decking at his boozer.
Andy Burnet ran the pub opposite the banker’s home in Nairn, Moray.
Cops have discovered the objections were the talk of the bar.
Det Supt Graeme Mackie told The Scottish Sun: “On the Friday the licensee received the copy of Alistair Wilson’s objections. Our understanding is he was annoyed by it.
“We need to know who else was in the pub that night who may have heard it and might have reacted to the idea this decking might be getting taken away from them.”
Sighting at beach ‘boost for appeals’
Cops also told how they got proof that fresh appeals pay off when a woman claimed she saw two men with a gun on a beach — 17 years after Alistair Wilson’s death.
The holidaymaker contacted police earlier this year after recalling the incident in Nairn weeks before the killing.
Det Supt Graeme Mackie revealed they’ve not yet corroborated her sighting but it gave new impetus to the inquiry.
He said: “The woman shows that, despite many years passing, new witnesses come forward.
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“If we are going to get the person who did this, it’s going to need the help of the community. We remain positive.”
MURDER on the Doorstep: Who Killed Alistair Wilson? Channel 5 Thursday, 9pm and online at My5.
