Alistair Wilson case: The doorstep murder that remains one of Britain’s longest-running unsolved cases
Imagine being four years old. One minute your dad is reading you a bedtime story. The next he is lying on the doorstep of your family home, drawing his final breaths.
Blood is seeping from bullet wounds to his face and body, pooling in the hallway, while the innocent eyes of a young boy gaze from the nearby staircase, unable to comprehend he was witnessing an event that would change his life forever.
“I still get that image of my dad in nightmares,” Andrew Wilson, now aged 24, says as he relives the childhood horror he experienced, two decades on from the gangland-style attack that killed his father, Alistair.
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‘Doorstep murder’ case explained
Warning: Contains descriptions some readers may find distressing
Andrew is quiet as he shows me a picture of him and his bank manager dad, taken hours before the fatal evening of 28 November 2004.
The beaming smiles of father and son, captured on a grainy film camera, resemble old photos that usually gather dust in well-thumbed family photo albums. The picture was taken during a relaxed walk in the woods, and shows them both wearing blue outdoor jackets, holding hands. Andrew comes up to his dad’s hip and is leaning his head on his arm.
But this is all Andrew has left. It is the last image of his father alive.
The final photo of Andrew and Alistair
The gunman vanished into the night
The contrast between the family fun on a Sunday afternoon with the brutal violence that would follow the same day is eerie.
The murder of Alistair Wilson is one of Britain’s longest-running unsolved cases.
Even the brightest and most seasoned detectives have been baffled by the fact a gunman carried out such a brutal execution in a sleepy Highland town before vanishing into the night, never to be caught.
No motive has ever been established, although in recent years police have zoned in on a planning dispute across the road.
Andrew is now 24, and grew up without a father
The absence of his father is something Andrew has been forced to come to terms with.
“A lot of my friends’ dads were very good. My uncles all tried to have their influence on me but it wasn’t the same. I remember my grandad teaching me how to kick a football properly… that’s something my dad would have taught me”, he says.
Speaking with a Highland lilt in his voice, he ponders the small but significant moments he missed out on like sharing his “first legal pint” with his dad on his 18th birthday.
“I blanked out a lot of my childhood memories,” he says.
Andrew has had to come to terms with growing up without a father
The knock at the door
It all began on Crescent Road, a long side street in Nairn. Victorian three-storey houses sit near a church, while a nearby beach looks out across the Moray Firth. Crime was rare – there hadn’t been a murder in Nairn for almost 20 years.
Alistair was upstairs with his two young boys, getting them ready for bed when there was a knock at the door. His wife, Veronica, answered a stranger who asked for her husband by name.
The house on Crescent Road
Envelope with ‘Paul’ written on it
Nothing about that interaction seemed to raise suspicion or cause alarm, and Alistair left the boys to come downstairs.
The stranger handed him an empty blue envelope with the word “Paul” written on it, and he closed the door. But bewildered, Alistair opened it again to ask questions. He was instantly shot in a gangland-style attack.
Andrew talks about the family’s plans to visit his dad’s grave, to commemorate the anniversary of his murder.
“He would have been 50 this year,” he says. His tone of voice is matter-of-fact, but his gaze wanders off.
“The whole family got together and marked it.”
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A replica of the weapon used in the murder. Pic: Police Scotland
A planning dispute
Speculation has run rife over the years in Nairn as to the motives behind the murder. Could it have been connected to Alistair’s career at the bank? Could a hitman have carried it out? Andrew says the worst part was when his mum was rumoured to be a suspect.
“It was difficult when people would say it was mum,” he says, emotion audible in his voice for the first time. Sounding protective, Andrew edges forward in his seat.
“I got in trouble at school for fighting because someone would say it was my mum,” he says. “I’d already lost a parent, and my other one was being made out to be something I knew they weren’t. That was my biggest struggle.”
Veronica and Alistair on their wedding day
Owner remains a key witness
Andrew is full of praise for how his mother dealt with being the focus of such hurtful gossip, while being both mother and father to her two sons. “She has done an amazing job,” he says.
In more recent years, police thought a possible motive could be linked to a planning objection Alastair had to a large decking area being built at the pub across the road from his house. His opposition was made public three days before he was killed.
Could a planning grievance really trigger such violence?
Police have stressed the then owner of the venue, who now lives in Canada, is a key witness and not a suspect.
Alistair was a young father when he was shot
‘Murkier and murkier’
Relations between Alistair Wilson’s family and Police Scotland were typically strong. There was no reason to question the strategy and the abilities of officers to do their jobs properly. When detectives told them, 18 months ago, that they were going to make an arrest, they were elated – finally it seemed justice might be done. But it wasn’t to be – the police went silent, and after chasing them for an answer, they found out the arrest had been cancelled.
From there it got “murkier and murkier”, Andrew says, with no explanation given. He and his family feel “let down” by the police, he says, and have no confidence they will ever catch the killer.
They are now calling for Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell, who was appointed in October 2023, to resign and take responsibility for her “callous” approach, after she refused to meet the family on multiple occasions.
Alistair and his sons
‘Committed to answers’
“If her force has let us down for 20 years and she can’t get a hold of it, how are they going to get us somewhere?” Andrew asks. Police Scotland did not address questions from Sky News about the future of the chief constable.
Sky News confronted Jo Farrell as she arrived at a meeting in Glasgow on 1 December.
“I won’t be resigning, she said, when asked if she would quit over “failing to get a grip” on this.
“I am committed to us getting answers and finding the people responsible for the murder.”
She walked away when questioned further about her competence, or lack thereof, as the Wilson family see it.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell
New senior detective in place
The new senior detective reinvestigating the murder from scratch has said she is determined to find the answers to crack the case.
Detective Chief Superintendent Suzanne Chow, who has met the family face to face, admitted she is currently “not in a position” to arrest anyone and conceded the various inquiries over the years have been “protracted”.
DCS Chow defended her boss’ decision to cancel the arrest.
“The chief’s not being callous,” she said.
Andrew and his brother at their father’s grave
‘We are a tick box’
While this row between the family and police continues there are questions about whether Andrew and his family will ever find closure.
“All we can do is wait,” Andrew says. “We are a tick box to police. Ever since the arrest was pulled it is clear we are just a number to them.”
Photos from the Wilson family
With £99 a month to live off Aida has turned to a food bank.
“It’s very difficult. Extremely difficult. But I have to live,” says Aida Mascarenhas. The 75-year-old tells us £99 is all she has left after paying her bills. Aida’s accommodation is provided by the local authority.
“Ninety-nine pounds in a month – even for bedding, pillows or something. So many things for a house.”
At the food bank, Aida is called forward to collect handouts to get her through the week.
Aida Mascarenhas uses food banks, saying she has just £99 left every month after bills
Organisers are able to offer the basics like potatoes, pasta and spices
It’s three years since we last visited this food bank at the Marks Gate Community Hub in Romford, Essex, when the cost of living crisis was being described as the worst in a generation.
After three grinding years of making ends meet, the food bank organiser – and her clients – tell us things aren’t improving. In fact, they feel things have got even worse.
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“Overall the cost of living crisis has gone up considerably since three years ago. It’s worse,” says Asma Haq, founder of the Marks Gate Relief Project.
“For charities like us it was a storm anyway and now it’s a hurricane. We are busy non-stop.”
Asma Haq, founder of the Marks Gate Relief Project, thinks the cost of living crisis has worsened ‘considerably’
Asma is running around calling people forward – offering them basics like potatoes, pasta and spices.
She tells us some always come early, anxious the supplies will run out.
Next in line at the food bank is a woman dragging a large suitcase – pulling the zip back to shove in a large bottle of cooking oil and anything else the food bank will give her.
This woman at the food bank is looking for basic groceries to keep her going
Asma describes almost all the people who come to the hub as non-white British, first-generation migrants.
She says most have broken or no English with little to no computer skills and want help to access a changing benefits system.
“It’s also about so many other barriers they face. A lot aren’t tech-savvy. They used to get a lot of council tax support which has been reduced considerably.
We’ve had people literally put their phones in our faces and say ‘do it for us’.”
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The threads of why people say they’re struggling weave through all communities. Across the road from the community centre we talk to people who again and again tell us they feel the cost of living has been forgotten about.
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One woman tells us: “I don’t know how people are going to live. They keep putting it up and up and up. It’s everything. You’re worrying about the gas bill, the electric bill, the council bill.
“And I know people that’s desperate and they cannot pay their bills and they’re worried about ending up in court.”
The cost of living crisis is being felt by this woman in Romford: ‘You’re worrying about the gas bill, the electric bill, the council bill’
Continuing to retrace our steps from three years ago, we head back to Barking in east London and revisit a launderette where we meet a familiar face – Myriam Sinon who has worked in the business for the last 10 years.
I ask her if she imagined we would be standing here three years after we last met and things wouldn’t have improved.
“I didn’t expect that it would be worse,” she says.
Despite rising energy prices, this launderette in Barking has chosen not to increase prices
Myriam Sinon, who works at the launderette, says customers are finding ways to share the cost of cleaning clothes
Myriam says electricity prices have quadrupled in the past three years – but the launderette has not increased prices, fearing it would drive customers away.
Everyone needs to wash things and she says people are finding ways to share the cost – gathering up washing from people they know to create a maximum load for the machines.
People are hoping to see an end in sight. But Myriam has a stark prediction if things don’t improve.
“There will be crime every time,” she says. “When people don’t get enough money they start stealing. They might kill you for a watch or phone.”
The government will fund any further local inquiries into the grooming gangs scandal that are deemed necessary, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
However, the prime minister said it is his “strong belief” that the focus must be on implementing recommendations from the Alexis Jay national review before more investigations go ahead.
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It follows a row over whether Labour is still committed to the five local inquiries it promised in January, after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips failed to provide an update on them in a statement to parliament hours before it closed for recess on Tuesday.
Sir Keir Starmer joins police officers on patrol in Cambridgeshire. Pic: PA
Instead, Ms Phillips told MPs that local authorities will be able to access a £5m fund to support locally-led work on grooming gangs.
On Thursday morning, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted the “victim-centred, locally-led inquiries” will still go ahead, while a Home Office source told Sky News more could take place in addition to the five.
Speaking to Sky News’ Rob Powell later on Thursday, Sir Keir confirmed that there could be more inquiries than those five but said the government must also “get on and implement the recommendations we’ve already got”.
The prime minister said: “Of course, if there’s further local inquiries that are needed then we will put some funding behind that, and they should happen.
“But I don’t think that simply saying we need more inquiries when we haven’t even acted on the ones that we’ve had is necessarily the only way forward.”
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Yvette Cooper speaks to Sky News
Ms Phillips’s earlier comments led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils choice over how to use the funds.
Sky News understands she was due to host a briefing with MPs this afternoon at 5pm – the second she had held in 24 hours – in an attempt to calm concern amongst her colleagues.
Review recommendations ‘sat on a shelf’
Sir Keir insisted he is not watering down his commitment for the five local enquiries, but said the Jay recommendations were “sitting on a shelf under the last government” and he is “equally committed” to them.
He added: “At the most important level, if there is evidence of grooming that is coming to light now, we need a criminal investigation. I want the police investigation because I want perpetrators in the dock and I want justice delivered.”
In October 2022, Professor Alexis Jay finished a seven-year national inquiry into the many ways children in England and Wales had been sexually abused, including grooming gangs.
Girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago.
Prof Jay made 20 recommendations which haven’t been implemented yet, with Sir Keir saying on Thursday he will bring 17 of them forward.
However, the Tories and Reform UK want the government to fund a new national inquiry specifically into grooming gangs, demands for which first started last year after interventions by tech billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X.
Elon Musk has been critical of Labour’s response to grooming gangs and has called for a national inquiry. Pic: Reuters
‘Fuelling confusion’
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the statement made by Ms Phillips “was one of the most cowardly things I have ever seen” as he repeated calls for a fresh inquiry.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, also told Sky News that ministers were “fuelling confusion” and that the “mess.. could have been avoided if the government backed a full national inquiry – not this piecemeal alternative”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the government needed to look at “state failings” and she would try and force a fresh vote on holding another national inquiry, which MPs voted down in January.
‘Political mess’
As well as facing criticism from the Opposition, there are signs of a backlash within Labour over how the issue has been handled.
Labour MPs angry with government decision grooming gangs
With about an hour until the House of Commons rose for Easter recess, the government announced it was taking a more “flexible” approach to the local grooming gang inquiries.
Safeguarding minister Jess Philips argued this was based on experience from certain affected areas, and that the government is funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases.
Speaking on Times Radio, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Sir Trevor Phillips called the move “utterly shameful” and claimed it was a political decision.
One Labour MP told Sky News: “Some people are very angry. I despair. I don’t disagree with many of our decisions but we just play to Reform – someone somewhere needs sacking.”
The government has insisted party political misinformation was fanning the flames of frustration in Labour.
The government also said it was not watering down the inquiries and was actually increasing the action being taken.
But while many Labour MPs have one eye on Reform in the rearview mirror, any accusations of being soft on grooming gangs only provides political ammunition to their adversaries.
One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a “political mess” and that they were being called “grooming sympathisers”.
On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the “right thing to do” but that it was “horrible politically”.
“We are all getting so much abuse. It’s just political naivety in the extreme.”
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‘We will leave no stone unturned’
Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was “far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors”.
“We are funding new police investigations to re-open historical cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey… is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country,” she said.
“We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven-year national inquiry when they had the chance.
“We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children.”
Prince Harry has visited war victims in Ukraine as part of his work with wounded veterans, a spokesperson has said.
The Duke of Sussex was in central London this week for a Court of Appeal hearing over his security arrangements in the UK.
The visit on Thursday to Lviv in western Ukraine, which has frequently been targeted with Russian missiles, was not announced until after he was out of the country.
Prince Harry visits Superhumans Center in Lviv. Pic: Superhumans Center
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
The prince, 40, was accompanied by a contingent from his Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar rehabilitation experiences.
Harry at the rehabilitation centre in Lviv on Thursday. Pic: Superhumans Center
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex said Harry had been invited by the centre’s CEO, Olga Rudneva, a year ago, and at the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, which took place in February.
Harry travelled to the centre, which offers prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge, to see first-hand the support they provide at an active time of war.
Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Ukraine. Pic: Superhumans Center
The duke, who served two tours in Afghanistan, met patients and medical professionals while touring the centre, the spokesperson said.
During his trip to Ukraine, he also met members of the Ukrainian Invictus community, as well as Ukraine’s minister of veterans affairs, Natalia Kalmykova.
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The Duke of Sussex was in London earlier this week.
Pic: PA
Helping wounded soldiers has been one of Harry’s most prominent causes, as he founded the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans the challenge of competing in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
Harry is the second member of the royal family to visit Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
His aunt, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, made an unannounced visit to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv last year.
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