Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Human rights team fighting for “justice” for convicted Orkney killer Michael Ross

Michael Ross's parents Moira and Eddie Ross lead a silent vigil outside the St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall.
Michael Ross's parents Moira and Eddie Ross lead a silent vigil outside the St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall.

Campaigners battling to overturn the conviction of the man serving life for the notorious Orkney waiter murder have recruited human rights lawyers to fight the case.

The Justice for Michael Ross group – J4MR – has raised over £20,000 to employ specialist solicitors in an online crowdfunding appeal.

They hope to build a case outlining what they believe to be an “injustice” in the murder of Bangladeshi Shamsuddin Mahmood in 1994, when former Black Watch soldier Ross – whose family now live in Inverness – was just 15.

The married father-of-two, now 39, was jailed for life – with a minimum term of 25 years – in 2008 when a judge branded him a “vicious coward” in what was described as a race-hate killing.

Michael Ross attempted to flee court after murder conviction

Campaigners claim Ross, who is 5ft 7in, should be cleared as witnesses described the killer as being around 6ft.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for J4MR said they had now raised enough money to employ human rights lawyers.

She added: “There is mounting public concern about the conviction of Michael Ross. We believe that this huge sum raised in respect of a potential miscarriage of justice is unprecedented in the UK.

“One of Scotland’s foremost ruman rights law firms are currently familiarising themselves with the complex detail of this case in order to assess any potential progress that could be made.”

The execution-style killing in Orkney’s capital Kirkwall sparked the island’s first murder inquiry in quarter of a century.

The spokeswoman for J4MR added: “The murder of Shamsuddin Mahmood was tragic and horrific. The conviction of Michael Ross, to many people in our community, is also tragic. It’s a blight on our landscape and we can’t allow this miscarriage of justice to be swept under the carpet.

“He has, at times, acted out of desperation and perhaps not helped his case for innocence in the eyes of many.

“Despite this, we must remember that he was a child of 15 at the time of the original crime and there is not one single aspect of the weak circumstantial case against him that cannot be discredited.”

The ultimate aim of the group is for the human rights’ lawyer to gather enough evident to submit an updated case to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) with a view to gaining a referral to the Court of Appeal.

They also want to submit a detailed complaint to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) in Scotland.

The spokeswoman said: “This approach will give Michael the best possible chance of having his conviction quashed. There are no guarantees, but the goodwill and support Michael Ross has received has been incredible and it inspires us to push forward.”

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: “We cannot comment as the case is closed and deemed historic.”