Man who murdered Orkney waiter to have conviction reviewed

A former soldier serving a life sentence for the murder of a waiter in Orkney in 1994 is to have his conviction re-examined.

Shamsuddin Mahmood, 26, was shot in the head at point-blank range as he served customers in an Indian restaurant in Kirkwall.

Michael Ross - who was just 15 at the time - was convicted in 2008 after he joined the Army and became a sniper. He has always maintained his innocence.

A previous bid by Ross to have the case reviewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) was rejected in 2014 .

The case will be looked at again and could ultimately be referred back to the courts.

The SCCRC said it was restricted by law in terms of the information it could disclose about the cases it reviews.

However, it confirmed to BBC Scotland News that the commission had received an application from Ross which had now been accepted for a review.

Mahmood was shot and killed in front of diners, including young children, after a masked man walked into the Mumutaz restaurant.

The death of the Bangladeshi national and university graduate shocked the island community and beyond.

The prime suspect at the time was 15-year-old schoolboy Ross, but without sufficient evidence the case went cold.

Ross went on to become a sniper in the Black Watch and was decorated for his actions in Iraq.

Then, 12 years after Mahmood was murdered, a new witness came forward.

It resulted in Ross being charged and tried at the High Court in Glasgow in June 2008.

He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum sentence of 25 years.

But his conviction was overshadowed by an audacious escape attempt.

As he was about to be led away Ross knocked over a security guard, and jumped out of the dock.

He pulled open a side door but was eventually stopped in a court corridor.

The following day, a hire car was discovered parked in a supermarket car park in Springburn.

Inside was a cache of weapons including a loaded machine gun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a grenade, and a hunting knife.

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