Alistair Wilson murder: Witness was on scene within minutes, ex-detective claims
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A key witness in the murder of Nairn banker Alistair Wilson was on the scene within minutes, it has been claimed.
Former New Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley was speaking to the Sunday Mail newspaper when the claim was made about local publican Andy Burnett.
Mr Wilson had objected to a large decking area outside Mr Burnett's Havelock Hotel, opposite his family home in Crescent Road, shortly before he was shot dead on his doorstep on Sunday November 28, 2004.
Officers from Police Scotland’s major investigation team now believe the answer to his murder lies in his personal life and is not connected to his job with the Bank of Scotland.
Detectives recently travelled to Canada to interview a key witness – understood to be Mr Burnett – regarding the disputed planning application.
Mr Bleklsey wrote a book about the cold case and interviewed many involved with Mr Wilson's life around the time of the murder.
Regarding Mr Burnett, Mr Bleksley told the Sunday Mail: “He saw the commotion outside Alistair Wilson’s house. He later helped paramedics put Alistair back on the stretcher after he slipped off and said he was in a bad way.
“He told me he saw Alistair’s watch coming loose. He then fixed the clasps as he was being taken into the ambulance.
“He took hold of Veronica by the shoulders and asked what had happened to which she replied, ‘A guy rang the doorbell.’”
By all accounts it appeared to be a normal evening for Mr Wilson and his family when a stranger called at the door and changed their world forever.
Mr Wilson (30) and his wife Veronica and two children were all at the family home when the caller came to the door around 7pm.
Mrs Wilson answered the door to the man who was wearing a baseball cap.
He asked for Mr Wilson by name prompting her to go and get him from upstairs of their Victorian villa.
Mr Wilson, the business manager of a local Bank of Scotland branch, then went downstairs before, it is understood, returning upstairs with an empty blue envelope.
It is understood the couple spoke briefly before Mr Wilson went back downstairs to speak to the man.
Gunshots then rang out with Mrs Wilson running downstairs to discover her husband dead on the doorstep – alone.
Theories have abounded in the intervening years.
Everything from alleged money laundering to mistaken identity have been suggested as possible motives.
Police have kept the cold case open and regularly bring it back into the public limelight in the hope of shaking loose new evidence.
However, the gunman's true motives remain unknown.
