FRIENDS of convicted killer Michael Ross have launched an online campaign in his support.
Black Watch soldier Ross was found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh in June of murdering Orkney waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood by shooting him point-blank in the Mumutaz restaurant in Kirkwall.
A Bebo site has been set up in Ross’s support, and has been viewed more than 3,500 times.
Messages declaring Ross’s innocence have been posted from family, friends and fellow soldiers, including colleagues from his sniper platoon.
His brother, Colin Ross, writes: “Michael is innocent of the crime of murder. I will never doubt that.”
Some messages also proclaim that Ross was set up by the police, and that he was convicted on lies told by unreliable witnesses.
Many state their belief that Ross is a victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The shooting of Shamsuddin Mahmood by a masked gunman on June 2, 1994, baffled detectives, who launched one of the largest police inquiries in Northern Constabulary’s history.
In the end, it was one of their own who led them to their prime suspect, Michael Ross, the 15-year-old son of serving police constable Eddie Ross.
Constable Ross, who initially examined the bullet casing used in the murder and had been stationed outside the restaurant, told his bosses that he had a box of the same type of ammunition as that used in the shooting.
He told officers he received the sealed ammunition from James Spence, a former Royal Marine.
But Eddie Ross’s version of events differed from that of Mr Spence, who insisted he gave him two boxes, one of which contained loose cartridges.
Ross sen was jailed for four years after being found guilty of deliberately hindering investigations into the Kirkwall murder.
When a search of Michael Ross’s bedroom unearthed a notebook with a swastika and a Scottish saltire containing the words “Death to the English”, suspicion fell firmly on the shoulders of the teen- ager.
The investigation stalled until 2006, when an anonymous note was given to the police.
It was later found to be from William Grant, in which he told how he saw Ross on the night of the murder with a balaclava and a weapon.
It prompted the cold-case review and led to Ross, who was stationed in Northern Ireland at the time, being arrested and charged with murder on May 22 last year.
Ross has still to be sentenced.