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.

Michael Ross attempted to flee court after murder conviction

Former Black Watch soldier Michael Ross fled the dock immediately after being convicted of the murder.
Former Black Watch soldier Michael Ross fled the dock immediately after being convicted of the murder.

Former Black Watch soldier Michael Ross fled the dock immediately after being convicted of the murder.

Police later found he had a weapons cache hidden in a car.

He escaped from the dock at the High Court in Glasgow in 2008 after a jury found him guilty of shooting 26-year-old Shamsuddin Mahmood in the head at close range in Orkney.

Ross was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years for the murder.

He was given an additional five years after he admitted attempting to defeat ends of justice and possessing firearms and ammunition.

As the escape bid unfolded, defence advocate Donald Findlay QC ran after Ross shouting: “No Michael, no.”

Ross was quickly stopped by court official Gordon Morison who suffered facial injuries. He was later praised for his actions by trial judge Lord Hardie.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Black Watch sniper Ross had a cache of arms hidden in a hired car parked less than a mile away when he made his escape bid.

Prosecutor Brian McConnachie QC told the court that a Scorpion machine pistol, a hand grenade and ammunition were found in a hired car he had parked in a Tesco car park at St Rollox in Springburn.

Mr McConnachie said: “The grenade was an anti-personnel grenade which throws out fragments of metal at high velocity with the sole purpose of causing death or serious injury. It is lethal up to 30 metres.”

Both the Strathclyde Police firearms unit and the bomb disposal unit were called to the blue Ford Fiesta and the area was cordoned off to the public.

They found the grenade, machine pistol and 542 rounds of ammunition, along with an army-style rucksack containing a sleeping bag, tent and survival equipment.

Ross claimed that when he made his attempt to escape from court three of the High Court in Glasgow he was heading for the hills, and that he intended to use the weapons to catch fish and game.

But a weapons expert said the machine pistol and the grenade were military rather than hunting weapons.

Timeline of Events

June 2, 1994 – Waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood, 26, is shot in the head by a masked gunman in Kirkwall’s Mumataz Restaurant

1995 – Michael Ross leaves Orkney to join the Black Watch, where he rises to the ranks of Sergeant and becomes a celebrated sniper. He served in Iraq and was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery

1997 – Police officer father Eddie Ross, who was called to the murder scene, is jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice. He had examined a 9mm shell case found at the murder scene but didn’t tell detectives it was identical to ammo he had at home

2006 – A witness comes forward telling police he had seen Ross in a Kirkwall public toilet just seconds before the murder carrying a gun with a balaclava on top of his head

October 2008 – Ross is convicted of murder and is jailed for life, with an order he serve a minimum of 25 years

December 2008 – Ross jailed for additional five years for attempting to escape from court after the murder conviction and having a weapons caches in a car park

2010 – Ross appeals conviction and sentence, but they are refused

2012 – Ross is refused permission to take his appeal against his conviction to the Supreme Court

2015 – A three-year review completed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission does not refer the case back to the appeal court in 2015