WATCH: Chief Constable’s treatment of murdered Nairn man Alistair Wilson’s family raised with First Minister after Jo Farrell was branded as ‘callous’
Highland MSP Douglas Ross used his last First Minister’s Questions as Scottish Tory leaders to raise the case of murdered Nairn man Alistair Wilson with John Swinney, accusing the SNP of “stretching Police Scotland to breaking point”.
Mr Wilson was shot on the doorstep of his home in Nairn on 28 November, 2004, but no one was ever prosecuted. Then last week the Lord Advocate ordered a complete reinvestigation of the murder by a new team of officers from Police Scotland.
Mr Ross referred to statements made by Andrew Wilson, Alistair’s son, who accused the Chief Constable Jo Farrell of being “callous” and “insulting” towards them in media interviews about the investigation.
The Wilson family previously hit out at Chief Constable for her “misleading” comments that a new Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) and team were “working now” when they apparently were not.
Nearly 20 years after the Nairn banker was shot dead on his doorstep, his family have spoken out, Mr Ross cited some of the complaints raised by the Wilson family at FMQs.
Andrew Wilson, who was just four years old when his father was killed, said: “We question why our family is still being kept in the dark while Jo Farrell is basking in the media spotlight as she talks of building bridges and providing confidence to our family.
“We don’t know whether Jo Farrell has been confused or perhaps even caught in a lie, but she has certainly failed to reassure us that she has a grip on this worsening situation.”
The Scottish Conservative leader said that while the police had let down the Wilson family, the SNP Government had in turn let down the police by forcing them “to fight crime with one hand tied behind their back”.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “This case has been left unsolved for nearly two decades, spanning many chief constables and many government ministers.
“The Wilson family have raised concerns about the chief constable’s handling of this case but the Scottish Government is not powerless in this situation.
“While Police Scotland may have let down the Wilson family, this government has been letting down police officers too.
“Officer numbers are at their lowest level in 17 years. The SNP used to promise that they would put 1,000 more officers on Scotland’s streets, but numbers are now down by 1,200 compared to when the SNP created Police Scotland more than a decade ago.
“The number of Major Investigation Team Detective Inspectors, which investigate the most serious crimes including murders like those of Alistair Wilson, are down by a third.
“And Police Scotland are so stretched they are no longer able to investigate every crime.
“The SNP Government have left our police to fight crime with one hand tied behind their back and the results are inevitable.
“Violent crime is at its highest level in a decade and our prisons are so overcrowded that SNP ministers were forced to release prisoners en masse earlier this year.
“So does the First Minister agree with his deputy, Kate Forbes that under the SNP ‘the police are stretched to breaking point’?”
