I saw Alistair Wilson’s ‘assassin’ moments before he gunned banker down – I’ve never forgotten him
A PENSIONER has recalled locking eyes with a “shifty” bus passenger he believes shot banker Alistair Wilson dead on his own doorstep — as cops continue to hope for a breakthrough on the murder riddle’s 20th anniversary.
Tommy Hogg, 75, said he quickly became suspicious of the oddball who had the air of a soldier and appeared to be pretending to sleep in a bid to hide his face from other travellers.
The former community councillor watched as the weirdo got off the coach and headed towards Bank of Scotland worker Alistair’s family home in Nairn, Inverness-shire.
Stunned Tommy went to police the next day after learning the dad had been shot three times at point-blank range when wife Veronica answered the door to a hitman.
Tommy was quizzed several times and helped produce an e-fit but it was never released as detectives — who have never made an arrest or unveiled a suspect or motive — appeared to rule out his theory.
Days from the 20th anniversary of the 2004 mystery in the quiet seaside town, he maintained: “I’m still certain it was the guy.
“I paid attention to him because of the way he was acting. He was just so shifty. It’s stayed with me all these years.
“I’ve never forgotten him or how he looked. He was just pristine, as if he had stepped out of the shower.
“And he was hiding his face.
“He made out he was sleeping to try to make sure no one got a look at him. It’s an absolute disgrace they’ve never caught him — I really feel for the family.”
It emerged Alistair had been set to leave his job to take up a new role with a research and consultancy business when he was murdered on November 28, 2004.
He had been putting his sons, aged four and two, to bed when a baseball cap-wearing stranger knocked on their front door.
His wife Veronica initially spoke to the man who said only two words: “Alistair Wilson”.
She went to get her husband who came downstairs before the mystery assailant handed him an empty blue envelope with the word ‘Paul’ on it.
The killer then shot the 30-year-old once in the body and twice in the face before disappearing.
Neighbours heard the shots before horrified Veronica found her husband lying in a pool of blood.
The couple’s four-year-old heard her screams and came down to find his father dying in the doorway.
Veronica called 999 before making a frantic dash to the nearby Havelock Hotel to seek help.
Riddle of notorious cold case
A timeline following Alistair Wilson's death:
NOVEMBER 28, 2004 Alistair Wilson shot to death at his front door.
NOVEMBER 29 Huge police probe kicks into high gear with armed cops on the streets of Nairn. Specialist teams comb the Wilson home for clues and search beach with metal detectors.
DECEMBER 1 Detective leading the case announces Veronica has been ruled out as a suspect.
DECEMBER 5 Cops set up roadblocks exactly a week on from the murder and quiz motorists and pedestrians to try to jog memories.
DECEMBER 8 Shocked workmen clearing a blocked drain find the gun that shot Alistair, in the town’s Seabank Road.
DECEMBER 10 Veronica leaves safety of police safe house to speak out for the first time and describes the killer as “not human”.
DECEMBER 14 The murder features on TV’s Crimewatch as Alistair’s family and cops plead for help to find the killer.
DECEMBER 20 Veronica attends memorial service for her husband at St Ninian’s Kirk along with more than 250 others.
FEBRUARY 2005 Veronica denies she had anything to do with the murder and reveals she thinks it has to be a case of mistaken identity.
APRIL 2005 Alistair is laid to rest at the same church in Fort William where he married Veronica seven years previously.
NOVEMBER 2005 Cops release heartbreaking footage of Andrew’s four-year-old son being told his daddy is not coming back.
NOVEMBER 2006 Lead detective Peter MacPhee admits he might never find the murderer.
OCTOBER 2013 A new team of 30 detectives are tasked with solving the murder.
NOVEMBER 2014 Cops reveal they are restarting the investigation from the beginning.
MARCH 2022 Officers fly to Nova Scotia, Canada, to interview ex- Havelock landlord Andy Burnet.
APRIL 2022 Row over unauthorised decking at the Havelock is revealed as a potential motive.
MAY 15 2023 Alistair’s family are told a suspect will be arrested on this date. But the operation is scrapped at the last minute.
SEPTEMBER 2024 The Lord Advocate orders a complete re-investigation of the case. Alistair’s family respond by branding cops “incompetent” and say they have lost confidence in the force’s ability to snare the killer.
Lynsey Gardner, who had been having a meal with a pal in the hotel’s busy bar, recalled: “Mrs Wilson burst through the door saying, ‘Please help, my husband has just been shot.’
“My friend and I looked at each other, almost in disbelief.
“We ran out to try and help. We were the first ones to arrive at the door and see Alistair lying in the doorway.”
An ambulance rushed Alistair to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness but he couldn’t be saved.
Witnesses later told how they saw the shooter slip away quietly into the dark, never to be seen again.
Forensics experts probed the Wilsons’ home for clues but a nearby CCTV camera was pointing in the wrong direction so was no help.
The murder weapon was found by chance during work to clear a drain half a mile away.
Then-Provost Sandy Park, 79, recalled: “The drain had been choked for over a year.
“Maybe this was someone with a bit of local knowledge. They knew it had been blocked and the gun wouldn’t be found.”
Detectives have since spoken to more than 14,000 people and flown around the world in a bid to uncover a motive and suspect.
60 cops hunt assassin
THE manhunt is one of the biggest and most expensive in the history of Scots crimefighting.
More than 60 detectives were initially tasked with cracking the mystery but that dwindled to just a handful within three years.
Lead detective Peter MacPhee showed off a replica of the pistol used to kill Alistair but confessed all he had to go on was “hope”.
The Northern Constabulary probe ran out of steam and a fresh team of 30 officers looked at the case after the launch of the national force in 2013.
Following a probe in Canada in 2022, Police Scotland revealed the assassin may have been much younger than first thought.
But moves to arrest a suspect were dropped at the 11th hour last year, prompting an official complaint from Veronica and her sons.
Detective Chief Superintendent Suzanne Chow has now been put in charge of the latest effort to bring the gunman to justice.
A dispute over decking at the nearby boozer was ruled out as a motive in 2004 before being reconsidered in 2022.
Last year cold-case cops told Veronica, 53, they were finally closing on a suspect.
But an arrest swoop was scrapped at the 11th hour when crimefighters and prosecutors decided more inquiries were needed.
Alistair’s family blasted their “callous and insulting” treatment by Chief Constable Jo Farrell amid frustration over the case’s handling.
Detective Chief Superintendent Suzanne Chow is now heading what is believed to be the fourth separate bid to catch the killer.