The brother of a pensioner brutally murdered in his home today made an emotional appeal for help to track down the killer.
Brian McKandie, 67, was found dead after he was attacked by a heavy weapon in his remote bungalow at Badenscoth, near Rothienorman, two weeks ago.
Today his family said they were struggling to come to terms with his death and were questioning why anyone would want to harm the “friendly” car mechanic.
Speaking at a press conference at Aberdeen’s city divisional police headquarters, his brother appealed for anyone with information about the pensioner’s death to contact the police.
William McKandie, 75, said: It’s been almost two weeks since Brian has died and it’s just been a terrible shock, especially as police believe that he was attacked.
“My sister and I are now left with questions about why someone would want to hurt him, what did they want?
“He was a 67-year-old man who lived alone, who worked hard as a self-employed mechanic and was friendly to anyone who spoke to him. How could someone do this to him?
“Somebody somewhere must know what happened to Brian. I would ask them to look to their conscience and call the police. We are finding this whole situation really hard to come to terms with.
“We have lost our brother and we just want to know what happened and why.”
Police have now released the last ever photograph taken of Brian McKandie which was captured on CCTV when he visited his local bank in Turriff on the day that he was murdered.
On the way home from the bank he popped into a garage which had links to his business then spoke with a friend before heading to his bungalow.
Detective Chief Inspector Iain Smith said the self-employed car mechanic was known to keep cash in his house and could have been the victim of a robbery at his home.
Dive team units were yesterday searching streams and undergrowth near his house for the weapon used in the assault and other items such as blood-stained footwear and clothes which could give vital clues about the person responsible for his murder.
Police were also stopping motorists travelling in the area to check whether they were driving along the same road two weeks ago and noticed anything suspicious.
Other officers were trying to track down two sets of men seen speaking to the pensioner at his cottage on Friday, March 11.Chief Inspector Iain Smith said: “We continue with a forensic examination of the home address trying to establish a motive for this crime is still our main line of investigation.
“Certainly a robbery is one motive alongside a number of others.
“Whoever has carried out this crime will have arrived back to their home address in a dishevelled state and must have been in an agitated frame of mind after a crime like that.
“Somebody out there knows something but whether Mr Mckandie’s attacker was known to him or not I can’t say.
“Brian’s brother and sister are obviously desperate for us to catch whoever has done this to their brother so they can get the answers they want and start to try to come to terms with what has happened.
“For their sake I would ask again for anyone with information about this incident to come forward.”
