Holy Shit! - Update...

If you follow the link that I put in the original post now, you'll find it takes you to an "error"... and yesterday The Orcadian website had taken all reference to the story off... so I can only presume there's been some kind of news blackout at that stage...

However, today The Orcadian website had this to say...

Man charged with possessing weapons

Michael Ross, 29, has been charged with possessing a cache of weapons found in a car parked outside a Glasgow supermarket.

Ross made no plea when he appeared from custody on Tuesday, at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

The discovery was made near to a branch of Tesco in the city’s Springburn area, last Friday evening. Ross, of Inverness, has been held in custody and no further date for the case has been set yet.

Basically, the story was that a car that he hired and didn't return was found in a car park only a mile away from the court he made his escape attempt from... The hire company recognised him as the person who had hired it, and when they went to collect the car they found the following in the car:

- A Czech-made Scorpion sub-machine gun
- A rifle
- 4 grenades (4!!!)
- Several knives
- An axe
- Bullets
- Army camouflage clothing
- Binoculars

Bomb disposal had to evacuate some 1,000 shoppers from the store, and spent an hour searching the car for booby traps!

That's scary! The damage that could have been done if he'd managed to get to the car with that arsenal of weapons is just unthinkable.

I'm finding it harder to believe he's innocent now, I must admit... There's no way this can be a fit-up, surely? And he's a trained sniper... and apparently a bloody good one at that! He's a trained killer... trained to kill without being seen...!

I wonder if those who set up the Bebo page proclaiming his innocence of the murder are still so sure? There was a quote there not mentioning the weapons, saying with all he had been through as a suspect for so many years, and what he'd seen in the army in Kosovo, etc. it was "no wonder he'd flipped out a bit" or words to that effect...

Surely crying, struggling a little bit, and shouting out that you're innocent would constitute "a little flip out"? I would say calmly and, with pre-meditation, hiring a car and filling it with the weapons arsenal of a 3rd world dictatorship for your escape from court is a tad more serious than that! Would you not agree?

I'll be interested to see what the local papers are saying about this tomorrow... wonder if they'll have interviews with any of those who were declaring his innocence last week?

Holy Shit!

What was going on in his head?

Daily Record: Orkney Convicted Murderer Had Weapons Arsenal In Car

No Prizes For Guessing...

... what the hot topic in Orkney is today.

BBC Scotland: Killer Runs After Guilty Verdict

14 years after the murder of Indian waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood in a busy Kirkwall restaurant, the main suspect at the time has been found guilty. Nothing too odd there, you might think... except the suspect was only 15 at the time of the killing.

I remember hearing the news the night of the murder, how a male in a balaclava had walked calmly into the restaurant, pulled out a gun, and shot the waiter in the head from about 2 foot away... before walking out again and running off down the lane at the side of the restaurant. There were all sorts of rumours and theories at the time... Was it a love triangle? Was it a gangland "hit"? But it appears it was simply a hate crime.

It's never really been forgotten in Orkney, and people have long held opinions as to whether or not Michael Ross was/is guilty. Me? I don't know... The evidence does seem to be mainly circumstantial, but it is compelling... how he had an interest in guns, the racist doodles in his notebook from the time... but could a 15-year-old boy really have killed someone so coolly and not broken under police questioning? Have kept his mouth shut for 14 years? He denies the charges, so I guess we'll never really know.

If he did do it, then I'm glad he's finally been taken to justice and will pay for his crime... But if he didn't... that's an innocent man who could be going to jail for life...

Orkney In The News

For a horrible, horrible reason...

The Scotsman: Scottish Backpacker Murdered

I didn't know Karen personally, as she was a few years younger than me - but Orkney's a close-knit community, and something like this impacts heavily on the population. It's so tragic that this bonny girl with so much ahead of her, and clearly living her life to the full, should be robbed of her future in such a callous manner.

I hope they find the coward(s) who did this to her and that they get what is coming to them.

My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends - here in Orkney, and further afield... It's clear she was a popular girl, and touched many lives during her time on the earth. May your memories of her sustain you...

R.I.P. Karen...