The 20-year-old unsolved murder of banker Alistair Wilson is set to be re-investigated following an order from Scotland’s top law officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC. Wilson, aged 30, was shot dead on the doorstep of his home in Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands, on November 28, 2004, while his wife and two young sons were inside the house.
Lord Advocate Bain announced that a new team of prosecutors from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, along with a fresh team of officers from Police Scotland, will lead the full cold-case re-investigation into Wilson’s murder. Bain emphasized the need for new efforts to resolve the case, saying, “There have been strenuous efforts made over many years to resolve this case and a great deal of evidence has been gathered. However, I have decided that it is appropriate for all the details of the case to be considered afresh and for further investigations to be made.”
Wilson’s murder has baffled investigators for two decades, with exhaustive inquiries into his personal and professional life failing to yield any leads. In 2022, police speculated that a planning dispute involving Wilson’s objection to a hotel’s decking area might hold the key to solving the crime. The killer is believed to have been between 20 and 40 years old, around 5ft 7in tall, and wearing a baseball cap and jacket at the time of the attack.
The murder weapon, a Haenel Suhl pocket pistol from the 1930s, was recovered from a nearby drain but provided no fingerprint evidence. Although DNA was recovered from a cigarette butt near the scene, it has never matched anyone in the police database. Despite extensive investigative efforts—including speaking to 14,000 people, knocking on 1,000 doors, taking over 4,100 statements, and analyzing footage from 670 CCTV cameras—the killer has never been identified.
Veronica Wilson, Alistair’s widow, has rarely spoken about the tragedy but has expressed the family’s need for closure. In a 2017 interview, she said, “For us as a family, we need to know why. This is just so senseless. For two young boys—to be left without a dad—that can’t be repaired. But a who and why would just make such a difference to us being able to move on.”
The re-investigation offers hope for justice, not only for Wilson’s family but also for the local community affected by the violent crime.
