Detective on killer’s legal defence team now believes he is guilty

A retired detective who assisted in the defence of convicted murderer Michael Ross has told a BBC documentary series he now believes the former soldier was guilty of the killing more than 30 years ago. Waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood, 26, was shot in the head at point-blank range as he served customers in an Indian restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney, in 1994. But it took until 2008 for Ross – who was just 15 at the time of the murder – to be convicted of the killing and jailed. Ross, an army cadet, had been questioned by detectives at the time but prosecutors ruled there was not enough evidence to charge him. George Thomson – who has never spoken publicly – worked for years as a criminal defence investigator, a role that assists a solicitor in the preparation of a defence case.