Who was Alistair Wilson and what happened to him?
Find out where and when you can watch the C5 doc about the murder
ALISTAIR Wilson was shot dead on the doorstep of his family home in 2004.
The shocking killing rocked the Highland town where he lived with his wife and kids — the crime remains unsolved to this day.
Who was Alistair Wilson?
Alistair Wilson was 30 years old at the time of his murder on November 28, 2004.
He worked as a business manager at the local Bank of Scotland.
He lived in Nairn, a small Highland town in Scotland, with his young family.
Alistair had a wife called Veronica and was a father to two young children at the time of his death.
His murder triggered one of the largest inquiries to take place in Scotland.
Doorstep murder
Alistair was home with his family on the day of his murder and was expecting friends to arrive imminently.
Around 7pm, Veronica answered the door to a man who asked for Alistair by name.
The unidentified male was wearing a baseball cap, dark blue jacket and jeans.
Alistair came to the door where the man gave him an envelope with the name “Paul” on it.
The envelope was empty, prompting Alistair to go back to the door to speak with the man when gunshots were fired.
Veronica heard three gunshots, went to the door and found her husband had been shot.
Alistair died later that evening in hospital.
The killer disappeared into the night and is still at large.
Unsolved
The murder of Alistair Wilson remains unsolved as of October 2024.
No charge has been brought forward, but Police Scotland is still investigating the crime.
In October 2020, The Guardian reported that Alistair’s son Andrew was appealing for information about his father’s murder.
They are still trying to determine a potential motive behind his killing, and believe they may have one.
In April 2022, Scottish police announced that Alistair’s involvement in a local planning dispute was a likely motive for his murder.
What is known is that the murder was around the time of an impending smoking ban on Scottish pubs.
The pub across the road from his house, The Havelock Hotel, had recently built a decking area in the car park of the pub without planning permission.
When they applied for permission, Alistair objected due to the noise and disturbance he believed it would cause.
The decking was paid for and built by locals, some of whom were said to be unhappy with Alistair’s reservations.
The pub’s landlord at the time, Andy Burnett, was one of the last people to see him alive and was assisting police as a key witness. He is not a suspect.
Murder on the Doorstep: Who killed Alistair Wilson
A documentary examining the unsolved case called Murder on the Doorstep: Who killed Alistair Wilson? will be broadcast on Channel 5.
It airs at 10pm on Thursday, October 31, 2024, and will be repeated an hour later on Channel 5+1.
on the links between the killing of the Nairn businessman and the dispute he had with The Havelock Hotel.