Miscellaneous Criminal Cases

It's taken a long time for the inquest into this murder.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/teenage-killer-of-teacher-ann-maguire-asked-classmate-to-film-attack/ar-BBEVqCJ?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

Not dead yet but hopefully soon will be.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/charles-manson-in-grave-condition-at-california-hospital/ar-BBF1o1y?li=AAmiR2Z&ocid=spartanntp

Welcome to Hades, Mr M.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42016704

Let's hope for a happy hat trick after Ian Brady and Charles Manson.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/yorkshire-ripper-peter-sutcliffe-rushed-to-hospital-following-heart-scare-after-claiming-this-christmas-will-be-his-last/ar-BBF8nY1?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=mailsignout

Andrew wrote:Mother claimed 'abduction' but now charged with murder.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/woman-charged-over-murder-of-toddler-sanaya-sahib/news-story/1b01d8bcc8ad6bd9f449787ad14e4a3b

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-23/sofina-nikat-avoids-jail-sentence-for-killing-daughter/9182912

She claimed originally that a "drunk black man" took her baby.

Freedom wrote:Previous link: http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/teen-girl-admits-katie-rough-manslaughter/ar-BBDEkgv?li=BBoPRmx&ocid=mailsignout

Still awaiting sentence - let's hope she will never be released until she's no longer ill, if that ever happens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-41145196

I was fairly sure that the girl is either the half or step sister of Katie and that has been confirmed by a bit of rummaging around.

A minimum of 5 years hardly seems adequate.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/girl-16-locked-up-for-life-for-manslaughter-of-seven-year-old-katie-rough/ar-BBFAl6Y?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

THis is a head scratcher, still not solved 13 years on, but reopened....


Video and photos on link below, here is the text......



The mysterious envelope and the death of Alistair Wilson


By Mona McAlinden BBC Scotland

• 27 November 2017
  

Alistair Wilson was gunned down on the doorstep of his home in the quiet Highland town of Nairn as he prepared his two young children for bed 13 years ago.
The unsolved murder of the 30-year-old business banking manager has become one of the most baffling cases of recent times but the detective in charge of a new investigation said it should be remembered it also shattered lives.
"This isn't a fascinating crime, it's devastating - devastating for Veronica, who has lost her husband and for the two young boys, who were four and two, who grew up without a father," says Det Supt Gary Cunningham.

Mr Wilson was shot at his home on a Sunday evening at the end of November 2004.
He had spent that weekend with his wife Veronica, his children and family friends.

When the doorbell rang he was reading their boys a bedtime story.
Veronica answered the door to a clean shaven man aged 35-40, who was described as stocky and was wearing a baseball hat and a dark blouson jacket. He asked to speak to Alistair Wilson.
Veronica went up to the boys' room and told her husband. He expressed surprise that someone had come to the door at 7pm on a Sunday but went downstairs, leaving Veronica to take over the bedtime reading.

After a short discussion with the man, Alistair came back up to the room carrying a small blue envelope which the BBC has now learned was empty. The name 'Paul' was written on the front of the envelope.
Veronica told the BBC: "He was just a bit bewildered as to what the gentleman had said, because the envelope wasn't addressed to him.
"He was bewildered by the name, that it was not addressed to himself, and there was nothing in the envelope.
"And I said 'no, he definitely asked for you by name'."

Veronica said there was no sense of danger at that point. Alistair had closed the front door.
She said: "It wasn't threatening. It was just very unusual. But there was no fear, otherwise I wouldn't have let him go back downstairs. He didn't need to, he was in the house now."
His wife told him they should get the boys down for the night and then try to figure it out.
"He just said he'd go back downstairs and see if the gentleman was still there," she recalled.
Minutes later, he had been shot.
Veronica said she heard three bangs, which she described as the sound of wooden pallets being dropped.
She ran to the front door to find her husband slumped and covered in blood. She saw the killer leave the scene and there was no sign of the envelope that had been handed to him.
While on the phone to the ambulance service, Veronica ran to a pub across the road and screamed for help.
There were more than a dozen people on the doorstep that night, trying to help save Alistair's life.
Despite their best efforts, he died shortly afterwards in hospital.
Ten days later, the murder weapon was found down a drain streets away from the Wilson family home.


It was a Haenel Schmeisser, a 1920s German handgun known as a pocket pistol because of its small size.
Forensic analysis identified it as the murder weapon but tests on the gun failed to extract any usable DNA.
Police have now revealed that another Haenel Schmeisser, an exact replica of the murder weapon, was handed in to them last year following a house clearance in Nairn.
The gun is rarely found in the UK - there have only been 13 of these guns recovered here since 2008.

"Obviously two of them were in Nairn, which would appear quite significant," said Det Con Ged Quinn, who has been examining the background of the weapons.
Another gun, the same calibre as the Haenel, and almost identical in shape and size, was also found in Nairn.
The Belgian-made Melior pistol was handed in to police last year.
The police investigation has been vast since that November night 13 years ago.
More than 60 officers were working on it at its height, and they spoke to thousands of people and collected hundreds of DNA samples.
Various theories have emerged about the possible motive, some speculated the murder was linked to Alistair's job with the Bank of Scotland, which he was about to leave, others suspected mistaken identity.
Veronica says mistaken identity is "the only thing that makes sense to me".

"I believe I did know Alistair and that evening, he did have the choice not to go back down," she said. "So I believe that he didn't know.
"If he'd survived, he still couldn't have told us any more. So the only thing that makes any sense to me was that it was the wrong Alistair Wilson."
She added: "We didn't have any sort of lifestyle that there was ever any threat.
"I couldn't even imagine why people are actually killed. You know, you see things, other people, and you just presume there's something dark or sinister in their life.
"But I knew Alistair inside out and there was nothing there."
The case is now being reinvestigated by a specialist team based in Edinburgh, 160 miles away from the scene of the crime.

They have been going over every bit of evidence, every lead that's been gathered over the past 13 years.
"It's pointless missing one aspect which could actually give us the answer," Det Supt Cunningham said.
"We do not know who's carried out this crime. We don't have a motive yet.
"We have to look at personal, we have to look at professional, we have to look at associations, we have to look at possible mistaken identity.
"All we can do is try our best to follow every single lead that's given, and the public can help with that."
The Alistair Wilson enquiry line phone number is 0131 311 5916.
You can hear more on this story on BBC Radio Scotland on Saturday 2 December at 09.30, and afterwards on a podcast called The Doorstep Murder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-42056011

That is a strange story. Are any of our Scottish members anywhere near there and have any thoughts about what may have been the motive?

Mistaken identity does seem the most likely answer.

Freedom wrote:That is a strange story. Are any of our Scottish members anywhere near there and have any thoughts about what may have been the motive?

Mistaken identity does seem the most likely answer.

I remember when it happened but it was a long way from my area. There was a lot on the news at the time but it remained a mystery. I agree, mistaken identity seems the most likely and I expect all other local people by the same name have been questioned.

Elaborate suicide bid?

I'm not sure that I understand that one - are you saying he shot himself?!

I have to say that, while I'm not implying anything, we only have Mrs Wilson's word for what happened. The account of her husband taking an envelope (addressed to an unknown person) from a stranger and then going back for more information is very weird. Surely the hit-man would have shot him on the first occasion.

Freedom wrote:I'm not sure that I understand that one - are you saying he shot himself?!

No. Suicide by hitman is a thing!

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12227267.Jolie_reveals_drama_of_how_she_tried_to_hire__a_hitman_to_kill_her/

I don't know if there have ever been any known cases of that in the U K but I remember seeing a made for TV documentary about this one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362172/Jeffrey-Locker-death-wish-trial-Is-hiring-hitman-kill-murder-suicide.html

I know this has been mentioned before on here 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-42171151
Poppi Worthingtons father was refusing to answer questions in court

We talked about this one when it happened but I can't find where. It was thought to be a genuine accident at first and I still think that it could have been.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boy-drowned-because-of-parents-negligence/ar-BBFYxDX?li=AAnZ9Ug

https://news.sky.com/story/three-children-dead-in-salford-house-fire-111667

I wonder why the incident has been referred to the Police Complaints Commission.

Freedom wrote:https://news.sky.com/story/three-children-dead-in-salford-house-fire-111667

I wonder why the incident has been referred to the Police Complaints Commission.

Because there had been contact with police in the hours before the fire.

Yes, it didn't say that in the original report.

That's now been whooshed.

The youngest child has now died.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/salford-house-fire-fourth-child-dies-in-hospital-as-two-are-charged-with-murder/ar-BBGHsf2?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

Freedom wrote:We talked about this one when it happened but I can't find where. It was thought to be a genuine accident at first and I still think that it could have been.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boy-drowned-because-of-parents-negligence/ar-BBFYxDX?li=AAnZ9Ug

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-42425758

Okay, this was an accident waiting to happen now that we know more about the family.