Detectives were set to arrest a prime suspect in the 20-year unsolved murder of banker Alistair Wilson before the operation was scrapped at the last moment, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team identified May 15 last year as the date to detain the man after years of investigating the crime.
However, the arrest was cancelled after Police Scotland chiefs and Crown Office prosecutors decided there should be further inquiries.
The details can now be revealed after Police Scotland issued an apology this month to the father of two’s family over the fallout from the astonishing sequence of events.
A string of complaints by Mr Wilson’s family have now been upheld, including that Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Livingstone, Police Scotland’s head of major crime, lied to the family afterwards by denying that a specific date had been identified for the arrest.
Alistair Wilson and his wife Veronica. A string of complaints by Mr Wilson’s family have now been upheld
The investigation, by Police Scotland’s professionalism and assurance department, also found that there had been a ‘disregard for the emotional wellbeing’ of Mr Wilson’s wife Veronica over the way the process was handled.
A third upheld complaint confirmed that Ms Wilson ‘received no update when the decision was taken not to progress the arrest’.
Mr Wilson’s family have declined to comment. However, a source close to them said: ‘Alistair’s family were left in a state of extreme distress at the way this was handled.
‘They are desperate for a breakthrough and thought it was coming. It is difficult to overstate the distress and disappointment they felt when it was scrapped at the last moment.
‘They are not naive and realise an arrest might only have been the beginning of a new stage in the inquiry, and that it didn’t mean charges would definitely follow.
‘However, they believed, and still do, that it would have helped move things forward and that it was absolutely necessary in order to formally question the suspect.
‘All they want is for the killer to be caught. To do that, they believe this man should have been arrested and questioned, in order that he is ruled out or otherwise.’
Alistair Wilson’s wife Veronica has accused police chief Paul Livingstone of lying
Mr Wilson, a business manager at the Bank of Scotland, was shot dead on his doorstep in Nairn, in 2004. His wife had answered the door to a man who asked for Alistair by name.
Mr Wilson, 30, went to speak to the man and was handed a blue envelope with the word ‘Paul’ on it.
He went back inside his house briefly, before returning to the door, where he was shot dead.
The gun used to kill him, a Haenel Suhl pocket pistol from the 1930s, was found in a drain ten days later.
Officers had been unable to identify suspects or even establish a motive.
However, a flurry of police activity last year led to renewed hopes that the killer could be brought to justice.
Detectives made renewed appeals for information and a possible motive, a row over decking being built near Mr Wilson’s house, was also established.
It is understood that the Wilson family became aware in 2022 via their sources, including members of the local community, that a possible suspect had been identified.
Contacting police, they were told that the man would be arrested, for interview, if he could not be eliminated by ‘conventional inquiries’.
As the probe progressed, the family were informed by a senior detective, who has since retired, that an arrest was to take place on May 15.
The family contacted police at 8.30am that day for an update, only to be left in shock after they were called back by a family liaison officer who told them the arrest had been ‘halted’.
The doorstep where Mr Wilson was shot dead in Nairn
Further attempts by the family for more information met with no success.
They were told later that day that Mr Livingstone would only speak to them at a pre-arranged meeting to take place nine days later.
When the family complained, Mr Livingstone denied being aware that a date had been identified for the arrest.
The force’s probe this month found he was ‘incorrect’ when he told the family he was not aware that a date had been set. A complaint by the Wilson family that he lied to them was upheld.
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston issued an ‘unreserved apology’ to the family stating there had ‘been clear failings’ in the way things had been handled around the time of the proposed arrest.
Mr Houston said: ‘I am satisfied that the inquiry team proposed to arrest a suspect on May 15, 2023.’
He added there was ‘evidence’ to support that Mr Livingstone was aware of the date.
The distinctive pistol was later found in a drain
Upholding the family’s complaint, Mr Houston said: ‘Please accept my sincere apologies. I recognise that incidents such as these severely impact the trust and confidence members of the public have in the police.
‘I would like to reassure you that this matter will now be referred for assessment within the Professional Standards Department.’
A police spokesman said: ‘We responded to a complaint and following new information have provided a further response.
‘The investigation into the murder of Alistair Wilson remains ongoing.’
