Scots oil worker battered roommate to death – then went for breakfast
A SCOTS oil worker battered his roommate to death – then went for breakfast, we can reveal.
Scott Forrest, 43, calmly sat in the canteen as if nothing had happened after he attacked Robbie Robson, 38, and stashed his body away.
He laughed with colleagues as he waited for cops to arrive and has never been able to explain what happened on the rig in Qatar.
Talking for the first time about the tragedy, Robbie’s partner Kristie Graham told how everyone described him as “the nicest lad” — even the Scots fiend who battered him to death.
But Kristie Graham, 40, said she wants to ask brute Scott Forrest why he killed the love of her life, Robbie Robson, 38.
She is desperate to know exactly why the monster, 43, slaughtered her partner on a platform in the Persian Gulf, off Qatar.
Yet the mum of two says she’s had to battle a wall of silence thrown up by authorities in the secretive Arab state since the horror attack in December 2022.
In the paperwork she’s been sent about the case, Forrest, from Maud, Aberdeenshire, doesn’t provide any real or satisfying answers.
Frustratingly, it seems the pair never had a cross word during the three weeks they worked together on the Seafox Burj Al Arab rig.
And Forrest even described his colleague to cops as a “nice man”.
Kristie said: “Why would he do such a dreadful thing to such a beautiful person?
“Robbie was so kind and caring, thoughtful and respectful. He was the nicest lad you could ever meet.
“Everyone said that about him — even the guy who killed him.
“It’s just mad. We have so many unanswered questions and no one is helping us.
“This is something that you see on the news. You never, ever think it’s going to happen to you.
“You end up living in a constant nightmare. It’s like a horror movie.
“Your head just explodes with everything you have to deal with.”
Engineer Robbie, from Tyne and Wear, had swapped jobs offshore to work with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) because he thought it would be less dangerous.
He’d got tired with long shifts away from home, especially after becoming dad to son Seffi, who was just 17 months old at the time.
He vowed his eight-week stint in the run-up to Christmas 2022 would be his last — and he had planned to get married to Kristie soon afterwards.
But just five days before he was due to fly home for the festive season, he was attacked by burly Forrest, who had been transferred to the rig as a replacement for a sick worker. It’s understood the pair had watched footie games on TV together in their quarters.
Their third roommate was Chris Begley, 39, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire. All had been hired by subsea contractors Film-Ocean Limited, which is based in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
Kristie said: “All three got on really well.
“Chris told me he never thought there was anything underlying or anything bubbling away.
“Even in the horrible detail I’ve had to read, Scott said Robbie was a really nice man. I just can’t get my head around it.”
It’s thought Robbie was sitting at his computer doing research for another ROV pilot qualification.
We told how Forrest came from behind and repeatedly bludgeoned him with a 10kg weight that’s used to keep submersibles under water.
He then cleaned up the bloodbath with towels he had collected and hidden in the room as he waited for the perfect moment to strike.
Robbie’s mum Denise, 68, said: “It’s frightening to think the last face he saw was that monster.
“The worst thing is knowing that he died all alone on that rig so far away from home.” Forrest wrapped Robbie’s body up then stashed it away in his bunk so it would look like he was sleeping and shouldn’t be disturbed.
He had arranged to leave on the next chopper and hoped he’d be long gone before anyone discovered what had happened.
Then he coolly headed to the rig’s canteen for breakfast and sat down with his co-workers.
Kristie revealed: “He told them Robbie had made a mess of the room and that he wasn’t well.
“You would have thought he would have been acting a bit weird.
“But the other guys said there was nothing like that with him. He was just having a conversation with them and talking as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.”
Forrest was only rumbled after he attacked Chris as they headed back into their room together.
He whacked his fellow Scot over the head with a pipe and attempted to strangle him.
Chillingly, Forrest told him: “I’m sorry I have to do this to you.”
But Chris managed to break free and run for help — and told his colleagues Robbie was missing.
Forrest was then overpowered and locked in an office.
And he owned up to what he’d done — while laughing and joking — as he waited for cops to fly out to the platform. It’s understood he also got a chance to call his wife in Thailand and told her he wouldn’t be home for a “long time”.
He later claimed in court he had suffered a mental breakdown.
But psychiatrists said they found no evidence of this.
Kristie said: “It was obviously premeditated. He had planned it.
“He said he had a feeling that either Chris or Robbie were out to kill him. But they didn’t give him any signs of that.
“I think he was an opportunist who wanted to kill someone, anyone.
“He had the weapon and waited to take his chance.”
Robbie died on Kristie’s birthday. She revealed they’d chatted earlier that day. And when he didn’t call back later, she thought there was a chance he was flying home early to surprise her.
But reality hit home when detectives turned up at her door late that night to break the grim news.
At first she thought Robbie had been in an industrial accident — until the cops revealed his room-mate had been arrested.
Kristie said: “It shatters your whole world. You can’t even begin to explain how hard it is.
“It has such a massive impact on so many people and lives.” Kristie had to break the news to daughter Willow, 12, who was Robbie’s stepdaughter.
His mum Denise and dad Robert, 68, were also devastated, along with his sister Lesley-Anne, 40.
The family struggled to get information from Qatar and were horrified when Forrest was cleared of murder and convicted instead of manslaughter — after claiming he had suffered from “stress and anxiety”.
To make matters worse, he was only sentenced to ten years in jail.
Now Kristie is concerned because she has no idea where he’s doing his time — or when he’ll be released. She said: “They won’t tell us where he is. And they won’t tell us when he is to get out.
“It is just terrifying. Not only do I have to live with the heartbreak and the grief but now I’m in fear of him being out and me not knowing.”
Gym owner Kristie is slowly trying to rebuild her life and says she sees
Robbie whenever she looks at little Seffi, who is about to turn three.
But she confessed she still thinks her tragic partner will walk through the front door at any minute.
Kristie said: “I know he’s never coming back but my heart won’t let me believe it. I know in my head that he’s not coming home but I’m just not ready to accept it.”
